Everything I Say Sounds Like A Cliche
by onlygreyskiesabove
Summary: After an accidental meeting between the future Head Boy and Girl over the summer, Lily is surprised that she's made a new potential mate. But is this Summer James the same boy she'd learned to despise over the years? Long fic, Seventh Year to Death if all goes well. Written as Lily in first person, and anybody else in third person. (So I can include some James scenes)
1. Summer James

A/N- Here it is... I've been working on this one for a while now, and I'm pleased with the way this turned out. All characters and locations belong to J K Rowling.

A/N- Sorry to the people who have read this already, I've added some new parts to the story to make it more relevant to later parts.

"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."  
―_F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby _

"Be sure to pick up some apples for the pie Lily, you know your Grandmother and her pies." My mother yelled after me, and I closed the front door of my house behind me. I had to wrap my scarf around my neck more tightly as the crisp fall wind blew around me. Summer was ending, a thing I looked forwards to. In a few days I'd be back off to Hogwarts where I could escape my sister and rejoin the friends I'd been missing for two months.

Walking down the road to the small grocery store was oddly lonely. I'm assuming the fact that school had started for local schools, and that it was a Tuesday afternoon had some part to play in the emptiness of the usually bustling street. So I made my way down the street humming softly to myself.

A leaf fell into my path, so I crunched it underneath my foot. The next thing I knew, a hand grabbed my shoulder. Instinct kicked in and I elbowed my attacker in the stomach, and they doubled over. Their hand loosened on my shoulder and I turned to face them. One of the people I'd never expected to see lay on the ground.

"James Potter! Oh my god! I'm so sorry! What the hell are you doing here?" I knelt down on the ground beside him. He groaned as he rolled over away from me. A few moments later he propped himself up on his forearm.

"Jeez, Evans. You have a great arm. Remind me to never sneak up on you again." James got up so that he was standing up, slightly bent over still.

"What are you doing here Potter?" I asked again. James didn't live anywhere near me. I'd learned over the years that he lived in a large house just outside of London, and I most certainly didn't live in London.

"My cousin lives in this area, and my parents had to go away on a business trip. They sent me to live with relatives for the last week of summer to make sure I didn't get in too much trouble. What about you? You live around here?" James ran his hand through his hair, looking around as if to see if he could spot my house.

"Well I don't just walk the streets of small towns, do I? Why did you sneak up on me anyways?" I crossed my arms across my chest and shuffled my feet. This had to be the weirdest point of my summer. James and I had barely talked at school during our previous year at Hogwarts, except for one event a few months ago during exams. James, in a stupid attempt to show off, had attacked Severus Snape, a friend of mine from my early years. The whole scene involved some hexes, blood, and a few choice words on Sev's part that had not impressed me.

Regardless of that encounter, which had left me with one friend less, I felt embarrassed about flipping out and hurting James and I felt angry that he'd snuck up on me. What kind of person sneaks up on a girl on an empty street?

"I saw you, and didn't want to frighten you. Obviously it didn't want to work. I'm glad I found you though. I'm so bloody bored being cooped up with my cousin all week. At least these next few days will be better with you to keep me company Evans." James beamed at me. Turning, I began walking towards the store again.

"Who said I want to hang out with you?" I called behind me. James could be heard walking quickly to keep up with me.

"Well I vaguely recall you mentioning something about being really bored over summer holidays because you have no one to spend time with. I'm here now, so you might as well make the best of it, right?" I raked my mind trying to remember that conversation. It had to have been at least fifth year, back when we were still talking. That was two years ago! How could he remember that long ago? I didn't have time to question him though. James had already begun talking and asking questions again. "Where are we off to on this fine day then?" It wasn't any of his business. I didn't need to answer. I knew that James would just want to come along with me if I did.

"Erm, well I was off to the shops to pick up some apples for my Gran." Dammit. James had a way of getting answers out of you. I felt cross with him, but at the same time I had a compulsion to talk to him. James Potter always managed to get under your skin.

"I'll grace you with my company then," he replied with a childish grin on his face. I knew there was no stopping him from following me. "And maybe I can come over and help your Gran with that pie." The image of James Potter standing in my kitchen baking a pie with my Gran forced a fit of laughter out of me.

"James Potter bakes?" I managed to get out. "I thought all you did was fly around on brooms and seduce helpless females. That's all you do at school at least."

"Well you're about to meet Summer James. There's far more baking involved with Summer James. I think you'd like him much more than School James. Far fewer girls are seduced."

"Do you mean girls are immune to your charms in the summer?"

"No, there are just fewer girls to seduce."

"Well look here, I'm a girl and you've yet to seduce me."

"Evans, the only thing I've done so far is managed to get attacked by you. You haven't given me much of a chance to seduce you. But is that a challenge I hear?"

I looked at James as we walked. His eyes were fixed on me. James hadn't changed one bit since I'd seen him last. An arrogant boy who always got what he wanted. I suppose that's what you become accustomed to when you're the son of a rich Pureblood family.

"No. Although you wouldn't be able to do it. You've tried, and remember- I'd choose the giant squid over you." James winced at the memory of his last rejection." I've got a boyfriend James, in case you didn't remember. Not that you would've noticed. You hardly pay attention to anyone who isn't one of the three friends who pull stupid pranks on unsuspecting victims with you.

"Oi! Evans, be nice. I happen to know you've got a boyfriend. I'm only teasing you. Lighten the mood after you nearly tried to kill me back there. Now that I've found out how mean you are, I'm debating taking back my offer of helping with the pie." I laughed again, and we turned the corner to the strip mall.

Entering the small grocery store with a companion was strange. Mum had always sent me on my own, and since I didn't go to school around here I knew none of the other kids, hence no friends. Petunia would never go with me anywhere let alone a grocery store. Mr. Lofter the store owner nodded at me. "Good morning Miss Evans. Who's your friend?" James walked over to the old man and held out his hand, introducing himself.

I, on the other hand, made my way to the produce section to pick out apples. A few minutes later I had a bag full of apples in hand, and I made my way back to the cashier. James was still talking with Mr. Lofter.

"I find that toasters can be quite useful to be honest, although it's a bit of a confusing contraption," James stated.

"It's not all that hard sir, just put the bread in and turn the knob-"

"That's the confusing bit though! The knob turning! How do you get it to exactly the right-"

"Mr. Lofter? I'd like to pay now please." I had to interrupt James before he made a stupid mistake. Being from the Wizarding world, James hadn't grown up with a lot of the things I had, being from the Muggle world. Toasters were a commodity I'd been able to have with my world. "James, would you mind waiting outside? I won't be long." James sent me a pleading look, but I shot him a glare that said out.

Mr. Lofter looked at me after I'd paid. "That boy of yours is a strange one Lily. He ain't from around here is he?" I shook my head.

"No. James lives on his own planet sir. No one knows what he's talking about half of the time. Thank you for the apples. I'll see you soon." I exchanged goodbyes with the old store clerk and rejoined James outside,

"Really?" I began once we were out of hearing range from the store. "Toasters? That's what you choose to talk about? You're hopeless in the Muggle world Potter." I shook my head as we made our way home.

"C'mon Evans, I'm obviously not from around here. Like you said, I come from planet." I looked at James and he winked back at me, taking the bag of apples out of my hands.

"But, how could you have heard that?"

James gave me a knowing smile. "Secret's darling… I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. No need to ruin a pretty face like yours over such trivial things."

We'd already managed to make it back to my house. "Well," he began, "are you going to invite me in to meet the folks? I'm sure they'll like me." Oh jeez. They sure would. "And I'd like to remind you that I'm holding the bag of apples. If you refuse to let me in, I'll drop them all."

"You wouldn't." I glared at him.

"Watch me." I knew James would actually do it to. What were a few apples to him?

"Fine. But I'm warning you. You're the second Non- Muggle I've had over so they'll be asking you a ton of questions. I'm sure you'll love to talk about yourself though." With that, I walked up my sidewalk and entered the house. "Mum!" I called. "I'm home! I found a friend I'd like you to meet."

James stood in my entranceway, and holding the bag of apples clutched to his chest, he seemed rather young and innocent. Gazing wide eyed around the front room, which was attached to the front hall area, he took off his shoes and began to look at baby photos.

"You were cute as a baby… what happened?" James looked at me and grinned. I set the apples down on the chair in the front room and stared at the photo he was referring to. Petunia and I sat on the beach, and my mother and father stood behind us, my father's hand on my mother's back. This was one of the last photos of the entire family together. I looked at James, who looked back at me. "What's that smell? Your house smells like cooking meat." James went off towards the kitchen as I ran and grabbed the bag of apples, chasing after him. Jeez, he was like a child.

I entered the kitchen to find James already talking with my mother and Gran. "So how do you like the area so far James?" From my mother.

"Well the people are fantastic, everyone is so nice." James replied.

"How does it compare to school?" Gran asked. James could barely reply before another question was asked.

"Hey! Mum, Gran! I've got the apples you wanted. I ran into James, who said he'd like to help out. Do you mind if we go and wash up?" James would thank me later.

"No, sure, go ahead. We'll get started and you can come help whenever you want to."

James and I left the kitchen and ran up the stairs to the second floor. The bathroom was small, but we both fit in there easily. I turned on the taps as James sat on the toilet.

"I'm sorry to say, but I warned you. You are free to leave whenever you want to. I wouldn't blame you to be honest." To my surprise, James wanted to stay.

"No, I'd like to help out. It's more interesting here than my other options. Besides, your Mum's already invited me for dinner."

"She did not." I mocked surprise. Of course she had. My Mum barely ever had the chance to meet my friends from school. The only other friend I'd brought home in my entire history at Hogwarts was my girlfriend Marlene. Mum hadn't even met my boyfriend, Aiden Tate- a Ravenclaw.

Plus, everybody loved James Potter. Except me, it seemed. Even Marlene was friends with him. Well, they were close because she was on the Quidditch Team at school with him.

I turned off the tap, and James wandered down the hallway. "Wrong way!" I called.

"Nope!" He yelled back. "This is definitely the way I wanted to go. Oh! Is this your room Evans?"

I hurried after him quickly. "Oi! Get out!" It was too late though, James had made himself comfortable on my bed, holding a picture that I had on my bedside table of Aiden and I.

"This is the bloke you're dating?" He asked as I nodded. "Aiden, wasn't it? Rather posh bloke from Ravenclaw?"

"He's not posh! Just because he puts more effort into looking good than you do doesn't mean you can make fun of him for it."

"This is a very difficult look to pull off Lily! I don't just roll out of bed this stylish?" I laughed as James placed the picture frame face down on the table and picked up the second photograph on the stand.

"How much time did you put into looking good this morning Potter?"

His face broke out into a sly smile. "I just rolled out of bed a little while before I left my house and bumped into you." James studied the second photograph. The picture showed my Mother, Father, Tuny and I at the park in our old house. "Lily," he began, "if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your dad? There weren't any men's coats in your hall closet, and your house is lacking in the masculine department. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

The stupid thing was that I had talked about my dad many times before without getting emotional. But there was something about bringing up the memory then with James in my room that got me teary eyed.

"C-car crash." I stammered out as I sat down on my bed. "We were… my Dad and I, that is, were driving home from the cinema, and got into a car crash. I w-was fine but my dad, he… he…." I couldn't finish my sentence. James' arm moved gently around my shoulders.

"You don't have to explain any further Lily. I understand." Nodding, I sniffled a bit.

"It was the first time I used magic. To save myself, although I still don't know how. I landed pretty roughly still, but after being flung from a car window, even with magic help, I'd say I got off easily. I just wish that I'd been able to… save him." James nodded, and I blushed furiously. Why the hell was I telling James all this? The boy had gotten on my nerves since second year, yet here I was crying and talking to James about something I'd never really opened up to anyone about. But there was something in James' eyes as he looked at me that made me feel I could open up to him. And he wasn't teasing me for crying, which means he could be an alright bloke.

"Jeez Lil, I can't stand to see a Bird cry. Let's have a change of subject alright?" I nodded as James gave my arm one last rub, grinning at me. "So where's that sister of yours? I've heard she's a fun one."

"She's at her boyfriends, Vernon. How'd you hear about Petunia?"

"You forget that we share a few mutual friends. Marlene and Remus have both had an earful of complaints about Petunia." He gave me a sly look. "I probably know enough about you to write a book Evans."

"Well now, that's unfair. I could barely write a paragraph on you and you know all about me!" How much did James know about me? There were some things I'd talked to Marlene about that I knew I really didn't want James to ever know."

"Well I don't know the important things. Although I've already learned quite a bit today already." James laid back on my pillow, his hands folded behind his head, staring at my ceiling.

"Like what?"

"You enjoy crushing leaves, for one."

"But that's hardly important. It says nothing about me!"

James sat up and looked at me seriously. "It is certainly important, Evans. I now know that you are the kind of girl that will go out of her way to kill something. And then immediately follow that with a violent act against an unsuspecting boy." A blush crept over my cheeks as James winked at me. I started to protest, but he continued. "There's still so many things to learn though. I don't know your favorite color, or food. These things, while less important than the fact that killing crunchy leaves is a hobby of yours, are still important."

"Blue and steak." James looked confused. "Blue and steak. My favorite color and food. What about yours?"

"I'd have to day red. And does chocolate count as a food?" I laughed and shook my head. "Then pasta."

"Pasta? Of all the things in the world? Steak? Chinese food? Some form of desert?" James shook his head.

"I've eaten all of those way too much. I rarely eat pasta at home. No clue why. I guess not eating it makes it more special?"

"You're a weird one Potter."

"As are you, Evans." I couldn't disagree. My Mum saved me from having to reply. I had no clue what to say.

"Lily! James! Would you like to come help? Or should I leave you alone?" I turned to James, letting him decide.

"One question before I decide," he said to me quietly. "Will I be bombarded with questions?" I shook my head.

"When my family bakes, we dance. And sing very badly to music."

"Well that's not bad then. I think I'll go help your Mum and Gran." He hopped off of my bed and strode out the door.

I sat there on my bed for a moment. _What the hell had just happened? _I'd woken up that morning feeling the same towards James as I had since I'd met him that first day on the train- annoyed and disapproving. Not that I'd thought of James all summer. Mostly.

I may have thought about writing him, but only because I'd learned he was going to be Head Boy to my Head Girl, and figured we should've been at least on talking terms. This was a whole other story though.

By the time I'd made it to the kitchen, ABBA's "Dancing Queen" was already in full swing. James stirred something in a bowl, and my Gran was cutting up apples. Mum help a spoon to her mouth like a microphone and belted out some words. Singing was not a skill my family excelled at.

The sight of James and my family getting along, strange as it was, relaxed me. I went and sat down by the counter, and James smiled at me, stirring away. The song was one of my favorites, so I started to wiggle to the beat in my chair.

Baking continued on like this for a while, moving from apple pie to a cake, finally ending with James helping cook dinner. "Hey Jude" by the Beatles played in the background once we finished. James and I sat on my back porch, eating leftover apple pieces. The summer sun was setting. Hours had flown by without notice, I hated to admit it but I'd enjoyed my day

"I quite like your family Lily," James began as he popped a piece into his mouth. "They make me feel rather wanted in your home. I mean, I'm sure you want me out of here as soon as possible. But still, three people who want me to stay. That vote says that I'm most certainly staying for dinner."

"You can't vote for yourself Potter. It's unfair and biased." I crossed my arms across my chest.

"I never voted for myself. I counted your Gran, your Mum, and yourself."

"Oh that's not true. Like you said, if it were up to me, you wouldn't have come in that door."

"Don't tell me you haven't had fun Evans."

"I did."

"Of course you- what?" My answer seemed to have surprised James. "You're admitting you had a good time? Hanging out with me? Even though you can't stand me?" His eyes were wide. Sighing, I replied.

"James, I don't hate you. A least not as much as I used to. I'm willing to be mates if you are. It's best to have the Head Girl and Boy getting along, right?"

"Oh yeah. That. What do you think happened to Dumbledore? To choose me for Head Boy. At the very least, he's gone mad. Maybe he's been replaced? That's the only way that we could have been chosen together. Practically everyone knew that we weren't getting along very well."  
" I don't know. Maybe he's got his reasons. I find it's best to just not try and figure it out. With you, chances are you'll hurt something in that tiny little brain of yours."

James pushed me over lightly, laughing as he did so. Getting up, James reached over and poked me in the side. I jumped up as a jolt rushed through my body. Quickly, I grabbed his hand.

"James! Lily! Dinner is ready! You can come on in now!" We looked at each other as my Gran called us, and I realized I was still holding his hand. Pulling away quickly, James and I both laughed softly, cheeks turning red.

"We'd better head in," I said softly. James nodded and we walked back into my house.

To my surprise and delight, we were having steak. I glanced knowingly at James, so smiled back and then mouthed _"Your favorite." _

"I thought we were having roast beef?" I pulled out the chair and sat at the table.

"We were until I invited James over. I'd feel silly if we didn't have a nice dinner while you had a friend over."

"Thank you Mrs. Evans," James walked over and grabbed the bowl of steaks from my Mum. "You can sit down if you'd like Ma'am. I can serve everybody. It's the least I can do." Mum was flustered.

"James, thank you! That's very kind of you." She motioned for Gran to take a seat at my table. _Way to go James, make me look bad. _James placed a nice thick juicy steak on my plate, and my mouth started to water. That made up for sucking up to my Mum. As he took his seat, Mum began bombarding him with questions.

"So how do you know Lily?" I rolled my eyes. _Obviously from school Mum, if you're going to ask questions, you might as well ask him interesting ones. _

"Lily and I met in our first year at school. We're in the same house, and we have almost all of our classes together." James put a piece of steak in his mouth.

"That's interesting. Lily, why haven't you mentioned James before? He seems like such a nice young man." He continued chewing as Mum spoke, but his eyes were smiling at me.

"I'm sure I've talked about James before, Mum. It's just that we weren't really mates before. We are now though." James' eyebrows raised and his eyes continued to smile. Swallowing, he spoke to my Mum again.

"I'm sure Lily will come home next summer with _plenty _of stories with me in them Mrs. Evans." _Oh that boy has nerve. _I shot him a glare as my mother expressed her delight at the fact that "after all these years, I'm glad Lily has had a friend from school over for dinner."

The rest of the dinner was equally both entertaining and embarrassing. James asked quite a few questions about my childhood, and my Mum gladly answered. Listening to James having to suffer through my Mum's never-ending stream of questions evened the board though.

James never appeared to let it get to him though. He seemed at ease sitting at my table, speaking to my family, although James Potter always seemed to belong where he was. After dinner he even stayed and helped as we washed up, maintaining a cheery attitude regardless of the fact that I felt tired just listening to all of the conversations he'd had to participate in.

Once everything was washed up and Mum's questions ceased, James and I went for a walk. A little way down the street from my house was a park that I'd used to play at when I was a small girl. Recent years I had found myself going to that park less and less. Bad memories were brought up there. Memories of a best friend lost. We reached the park around sunset, and everything was bathed in orange in the orange glow.

I sat on one of the two swings, pushing off and starting to pump my legs. James looked at me, and I couldn't determine the expression on his face. He sat down on the swing beside me and joined me. The air rushed by us as we swung through the air.

We swung for a while, talking about school and what we thought would happen with our Head duties. James, who had never been a Prefect, needed a lot of instruction. I jumped off of the swing set, landing gracefully as I had for years. James on the other hand wasn't as good at landing as I was. There was a thud and a groan as James' feet hit the ground. He rolled over to the grass. Running over to where he laid, I was relieved to find him laughing.

"I guess I'm much better at flying than landing." I sat down beside him and started laughing. Laying there in the grass, we watched the sunset, and said our goodbyes.

Even though I walked around looking for him in the days to follow, hoping I'd find him again, I didn't see James again until September in Diagon Alley, where he was too distracted to notice me. Anyways, I was sure I'd see him again in class.


	2. Nah, I Dont

"Nah, I don't"

**A/N- second chapter! This one took a while to write, apologies, school's gotten in the way.**

**Disclaimer- I own nothing, everything belongs to J. .**

The actions of James towards me in the days prior to school made me doubt that we'd ever even met up this summer. Maybe that day had never happened. Perhaps that day hadn't even happened. Perhaps I'd just dreamt it up in a sad, hopeful projection of my longing to befriend my fellow Head student.

Yeah right,

James Potter was just being an ass.

He'd disappeared for the last few days of summer, and then blatantly ignored me for the last few days of summer when I'd seen him with his friends in Diagon Alley. It wasn't until the train ride that I existed to him again.

If we hadn't met during summer, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with the way James was acting. We had though, and I couldn't understand why we had resorted back to the way things had been before.

Marlene and I sat talking on the train, alone in our compartment. "Summer was so boring Lils, I swear I died of boredom;;. You're talking to the ghost version of me. Please tell me some poor Muggle bloke fell head over heels in love with your good looks and you ran off with him and had babies. Maybe pirates captured you and took you on an adventure. At least tell me that Vernon was maimed in a freak accident and Petunia no longer wants anything to do with the idiot. Your summer had to have been more entertaining than mine Lily."

Ignoring her overly dramatic description of my summer, I sighed. "What's your ghost name Marley?"

Before we could start naming Ghost Marlene, the door to our compartment slammed open, James and his best friend collapsing into the open seats, shaking with fits of laughter.

"Did you see her face Prongs?" Sirius managed to get out through gasps.

"The poor bird looked like she was going to kill you!" The boys continued on about their latest victim for a good five minutes before they calmed down. Marlene cleared her throat and they jumped as if realizing for the first time that they weren't alone.

Sirius threw his arm around Marlene, a huge grin on his face. "Marley!" He roared. "How's my favorite Gryffindor Seeker doing?"

"The _only _Gryffindor Seeker you know was doing much better before you two gits showed up." Marlene shrugged Sirius' arm off her shoulder as she looked up at me. "Right Lily?"

I wasn't listening though. I was too busy having a staring contest with James. Or more accurately, he was staring at me and I was glaring back. Suddenly, I wasn't worried that he hadn't wanted to hang out with me anymore. I was angry with the git for abandoning me.

"Hullo Lily," he said softly, with a small smile.

"Potter." I didn't care if he didn't want to be my mate. Why did it matter if my Mum had scared him off, and that was why he hadn't come over again? Surely not me. I'd been bitter since Diagon Alley, and I no longer wanted to be friends. Then James said something that shocked me.

Sirius poked his head out the door on lookout and Marley stared at James' and my strange interaction.

"Sorry for disappearing," he continued. James Potter rarely apologized. He never apologized to his mates, and he had never even muttered a sorry for bumping into me in the hallways.

"Um… what happened then?" I was in shock.

"My aunt got angry with how late I'd stayed out that night, she's super strict. She wouldn't really let me out of the house after that. Then my parents came to get me a few days early because their trip was cut short, so I went home to London. There wasn't time to say goodbye. Sorry Lily." That word again.

"S'alright I guess. I had some last minute homework to do anyways." Or I spent hours searching for him because I was bored out of my freaking mind. He didn't need to know that though.

James looked at me with an unreadable expression. Suddenly, his face broke into a smile. "I'll make it up to you then."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"I'll take the lead at the Prefect's meeting." It was tradition that the Head Boy and Girl met with the fifth, sixth, and seventh year Prefects to brief them on their duties.

"Do you even know what to say?" James nodded.

"Remus taught me all about it this summer." He looked proud of himself. I'll admit I was impressed. James had taken some initiative in his new position.

"Alright then. Well, the meeting is in about an hour, so… what are you going to talk about it?"

"She's coming Prongs! It's time to go!" Sirius yelled at James. "She looks super pissed!" James jumped up quickly.

"I guess you'll find out at the meeting Evans." James smiled and winked at me as he ran out of the door after Sirius, waving goodbye to Marlene. A few seconds later, Laurie Crown looked into our compartment. Sirius had been right. Laurie looked pissed off.

"I'll assume you two know exactly who I'm talking about when I ask if you've seen those two gits."

Marlene pointed in the only direction the two boys could have gone. "I'm assuming that general direction," Marley fought to hide her smug grin.

Laurie rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines of "stupid loyal Gryffindors," and continued down the hall.

I leaned over and closed the door. Returning to my seat, I found Marlene staring at me, eyebrows raised, waiting for me to speak. "Erm… do I have something on my face?"

Marley rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers at me. "Lils! What the hell was that? You and James? I knew you'd had an interesting summer. What's going on between you two? Start explaining!"

"Nothing's going on between James and I Marley. We just bumped into each other a few days ago and spent some time together. That's all." I added the last bit after Marlene's eyebrows raised higher. They were going to get stuck up there if she didn't cut it out.

"You and James… managed to 'hang out' without murdering each other? I thought you hated him!"

I thought about it for a little bit. "Nah, I don't." Marlene faked shock. Or at least I think she did.

"Lily, I'm so proud of you."

"Ugh, sod off Marls." I ended that conversation by looking out the window.

We started talking a little while later and then before I knew it, it was almost time for the Prefects meeting.

I opened the door to the Prefects car ten minutes early to find all 24 of the Prefects and James already there.

"Well, hullo everybody," I said with a smile, closing the door behind me.

It was then that I'd realized I'd interrupted. The room was filled with an awkward air. James looked at me with a slight smile dancing on his lips.

"Nice you to join us then," he was fighting to keep a laugh in. Why the hell had he started early? I know he'd said he was going to take charge at this meeting, but this wasn't supposed to start until both of us were here.

"Carry on, Potter," I replied coolly. If he wanted to do our job all for himself, I wasn't going to stop him.

"As I was saying, Lily and I will take the first few shifts. Come and see one of us in a few days and we'll have a schedule drawn up for the month by then."

He'd volunteered us for a few days of Patrol Rounds in a row? Those things usually lasted until midnight. I always slumped into bed exhausted after patrols in previous years. James obviously didn't know that. Neither of us had thought to write up a schedule though, so I couldn't argue. We hadn't put any thought into who would get along with whom, and who had practice for what. There was no getting out of what James had said.

" I'm sure you're aware that you need to set a good example for the younger kids, so please behave for the first little while at least. After about a month, I'm fine if you want to skiv off class, or hex the crap out of each other in the hallways." The group started laughing softly. "Also, sixth years, you'll be leading the first years to their dorms tonight alright? So don't get lost and make sure the majority of them get there. I'd rather not have a bunch of little monsters running around on Patrol Rounds." He checked the piece of paper in his hand. "So I've covered Badges, Rounds, Rules, Curfew Hours, Tonight's events, Hogsmeade trips- I think I'm done. You can all head off and get changed if you'd like."

He'd gotten all of that done before I'd gotten here? How early had James called the meeting? Looking up, I realised that James and I were the only ones left in the car.

"What the hell?" That was all I could get out- all the thoughts in my brain, summarized into three words. James looked at me, a confused expression on his face.

"Why did you start it without me?" My cheeks were flushed, and I was angry. I'd been embarrassed by showing up to the meeting late. Maybe James just wanted me to look bad. Maybe this whole summer thing was payback for rejecting him so harshly at the end of last year. My brain started thinking of all the reasons James would want revenge.

"I want to lighten your load this year Lily." James folded the piece of paper and then shoved it into his bag, swinging it over his shoulder. "Last year you were always wiped out. Head Girl has a lot of responsibilities. That won't help."

"But you're Quidditch Captain as well, aren't you? That'll be a lot for you to handle. James, I'm a big girl. I can do this."

"Alright, next time I won't start without you."

"Thank you Potter."  
"'Welcome Evans." James smirked and opened the door to the car. "After you." His arm swept towards the open doorway and I walked through.

I began to hurry down the hallway, and James called after me. "So are we okay Lily?" I turned to him, thinking. I was angry with him still about embarrassing me and signing me up for consecutive Patrol Rounds. But it made sense.

"We're okay James."

He smiled at me and turned into a compartment next to him. Turning, I made my way back to Marlene. Opening the door, I found she wasn't alone. Alice, another seventh year Gryffindor girl, and a close friend, sat where I'd been sitting before.

"Lily!" Alice nearly tackled me with a hug. I replied with a muffled "Hey Alice," and she let go of me.

"I'm sorry I showed up late. I had a few people I needed to talk to once I got on the train. Marley's filled me in on your James filled summer." I rolled my eyes as she beamed at me. "I'm not sure if Aiden is going to like that." Alice had always liked drama. Even when it wasn't actually drama. I rolled my eyes.

"There's nothing for Aiden to worry about. James and I are just mates. I'm not even sure we are. I'm kind off pissed at him right now. He's gone and embarrassed me and signed me up for Patrol Rounds all week." Alice seemed let down slightly by my confession. Both Marlene and Alice had been opting for me to go out with James since he'd first shown interest in me in fourth year. Even now that I had a boyfriend, they wouldn't give up on their dream couple.

"Damn. That would of made for some great gossip around Hogwarts. I need some drama Lils." Alice sighed dramatically and collapsed back onto the seat. Great. Apparently my life was going to be Alice's source of drama for the year. That didn't bode well for me.

The train pulled into the station about an hour later, and Hagrid's familiar voice rang through the noise emitted by the crowd of students stepping off onto the platform. Marlene, Alice and I all headed up to the carriages where we met up with Emmeline Vance and Mary MacDonald, the two other girls in our year. Exchanging our greetings we all got into the carriage and headed up to the school. James, myself, and a few other volunteer seventh year Prefects including Remus Lupin, all stood in the entrance hall directing the younger students into the Great Hall.

One of my favorite parts of starting a new year was the beginning of the year when all the first years' experience everything with young eyes. I suppose coming from a Muggle family, it was even more spectacular, but at the same time, judging from the amazement in the eyes of the groups of children passing by me, it's was impressive to people who grew up surrounded by magic.

The last few stragglers joined the rest of the group in the Great Hall, and James, Remus and I started to follow them, eager to hear the Sorting Hat's new placements.

"Potter! Evans!" I jumped and turned to find Argus Filch standing there, Mrs. Norris weaving in and out of his legs. "You're wanted in the Headmasters' office. Lupin, you're free to go." I looked at James, who shrugged.

"Why do you think Dumbledore wants to see us? Do you think he's heard about the meeting on the train? Maybe it's some really serious rule that both Heads have to be present?" My mind started racing.

"C'mon Evans. We aren't going to get in trouble for starting the meeting early. If anything, this is about a mistake he's made. Maybe I was right, I'm not supposed to be Head Boy. Or maybe he heard about Laurie Crown on the train. Sirius and I are getting detention for at least a week for that."

"What happened with that, by the way? Laurie was really angry."

"You'll find out sooner or later. Anyways, you wouldn't have been called if this was about Laurie." He had a point. So they mystery of why James and I had been called to meet the Headmaster remained a mystery.

Dumbledore's office was filled with strange contraptions, whirling and making noises as James and I made our way to the back of the room. Dumbledore sat at his desk, writing something on parchment, looking up at us through his half-moon glasses.

"Good. You're here. You can take a seat if you'd like." James and I cautiously took a seat in the chairs in front of the Headmaster. James slumped down comfortably in the seat as if he was very familiar in the place. I on the other hand, sat hunched over a bit awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. This had been my first time in the Headmaster's office. "I'm sure the two of you heard about the incident on the train." I sat up quickly and looked at James, whose face had remained still, not betraying any emotion. "I'm going to need some assistance from the two of you." _What? _

"Sir, I wasn't involved in the situation," I instantly began to protest. I wasn't going to get in trouble for James' stupidity. Dumbledore gave me a small smile.

"Neither of you were Miss Evans, I need to ask a favour of the two of you. The two students that were involved need mentors to get them back on the right track. Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, I'm putting you in charge of the two young Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students- Bertram Aubrey and Davey Gudgeon." James' expression softened into a small smile. He knew he'd gotten away with whatever he'd done to Laurie.

"What does this mentoring involve Professor?" James asked.

"Looking out for them in the halls and meetings with them every once in a while to find out how they are doing. This is for their benefit, having older students looking after them."

"I'm up for it Professor. When will the first meeting be?" I looked at James and he nodded in agreement.

"I'll tell Mr. Aubrey and Mr. Gudgeon to meet you in the library tomorrow after dinner for your first meeting. It's up to you to decide what you'd like to do with the time. Any other questions?" Both James and I shook our heads. "I'll let you two go enjoy your meal then. I'll meet you down there in a moment."

James as I quickly made our way down to the Great Hall. I, for one was very hungry.

"Did you hear anything about what happened between Gudgeon and Aubrey? I was too busy talking to Alice and Marlene to hear anything outside of our compartment." James shook his head.

"After the meeting I went and hid with Sirius again. Speaking of, can you warn me if you see Laurie coming after me with any sharp objects?" I laughed and we entered the doors to the Great Hall.

It didn't surprise me that Dumbledore had already made it to the Great Hall ahead of us, and was sitting at his usual seat at the teacher's table. Leaning over, he winked at me as Professor Flitwick squeaked something. James and I took a seat at the Gryffindor table as Dumbledore stood up.

"Welcome students, young and old, to another year at Hogwarts. I'm hoping that like previous years, we all have a very enjoyable time and do well in our classes. Mr. Filch, our caretaker, would like me to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits, and that students must be in the Common Rooms before curfew, not arriving at the entranceway by curfew."

Dumbledore continued on his speech, ending with a happy note, naming some of the new teachers. We'd heard about the attack Professor Thame, our old Muggle Studies teacher over the summer. A known Half-blood and Muggle born activist, she'd been found in her house after the Dark Mark had been set off. That was all people really knew since she'd been carted off to the Ministry and no one had seen her. She'd been replaced by an elderly teacher that I'll never remember the name of. It was a shame. She was a nice teacher to see in the halls even though I'd never had her. I'd considered Muggle Studies to be a waste of time due to my non-magical background. I did flip through Marlene's textbook every once in a while just out of curiosity to see what the Wizarding world thought of objects I took for granted. Like James with the toaster during the summer. I turned to James only to find him staring back at me, a frown on his face. Shooting him a questioning look, he shook his head and motioned towards McGonagall who'd retrieved the Sorting Hat.

"We will begin the sorting ceremony." McGonagall called the first name, and a young, nervous looking boy stepped up to the chair and sat down. His features reminded me very much of James, but that was as far as the resemblance went. Where James usually seeped with confidence in everything he did, this small, frightened boy was nearly shaking as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. The Hat thought for a moment and the boy nearly jumped off his chair as it cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The boy shyly made his way over to the table filled with red and gold as we cheered, and sat down, placing his head down on the table, arms folded around it as if he were hiding. More children were sorted, a pretty equal amount of kids in each house.

The feast was as amazing as always, and I managed to snag a few extra pastries for rounds tonight. First night rounds were always bad with the amount of kids who got lost on their way to the Dorms. As soon as the Great Hall was cleared, we took some volunteer Prefects and made our way out into the hallways of Hogwarts to help the young students. I found my first problem in the dungeons. The young Gryffindor boy that looked like James wandered near the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. Dismissing it as a fluke, I approached the boy.

"Hey, are you lost?" The boy jumped and turned to me, eyes wide. He slowly started to nod, his eyes dropping to the ground. "Gryffindor, right?" The boy didn't still hadn't spoken, and again nodded. I sighed, continuing. "Did you want some help getting to the Common Room? It's almost curfew." He looked around for a moment, then settled on me again. Finally, he spoke.

"Sure, I guess. Thanks." He smiled slightly as we started walking. "My name is Liam by the way. Liam Travers." The name sounded familiar.

"Lily Evans." I smiled as we climbed the staircase. Liam kept looking around like we were doing something wrong. "You don't have to worry about getting in trouble as long as I'm around, Liam. Besides, it's your first night here. It's understandable that you got lost. Do you have any siblings here?" Liam thought for a second, and then answered.

"Well I did for a little while. But my brother left the school last year." I racked my mind, searching for any memory of a Travers. There was some faint memory of a Slytherin named Travers in the year ahead of us. Nothing really big came to mind. I wondered if that was why he'd been hanging around the Slytherin Common Room. We made small talk until we reached the Gryffindor Common Room entrance. There, we met up with a familiar face. James Potter sat there, smelling strongly of vinegar. Liam flinched away, covering his nose and I looked questioningly at James.

"Erm, should I even ask Potter?" The both of us grinned.

"A first year Hufflepuff was wandering around the third corridor, and I helped him find her way back to her Common Room, but she insisted on trying to get in herself. She tapped the wrong barrel, and now I'm stuck smelling like this for the rest of the night. I tried using my wand to get rid of the smell but it won't go away." James pouted like a little kid and I stifled a giggle.

"Well I had a more fortunate run in than you, I suppose. Liam here is a fellow Gryffindor." Liam smiled shyly. "But what are you doing sitting out here?" James scowled at me and motioned his head over to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"_She _won't let me in to the Common Room."

"Well excuse me," the voice of the Fat Lady rang through the hall. "I'm a proud woman, and I won't have that _hooligan_ gallivanting around the school, getting in all sorts of trouble then coming back in a messy condition and trying to ruin the good reputation of the Gryffindor house. I've put up with it for six years. Not anymore!" James scoffed and rolled his eyes as she spoke.

"James had changed. He's Head Boy now. There won't be any more trouble." I looked at James, a serious expression on my face.

"What do you call this then miss? Showing up on the first night smelling horrid, speaking rudely to me?" James answered the Fat Lady.

"I ran into a spot of trouble helping a first year. It's a one-time thing okay? And I wouldn't smell so bad if you'd let me in and shower!" James clenched his fist.

The Fat Lady looked shocked, and I could hear Liam shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot behind me in the silence. "Well I never…." The Fat Lady was speechless.

"Pumpkin Pasties." I spoke the password, and the Portrait swung open involuntarily. James, Liam and I climbed in and emerged in the familiar Common Room. With all the commotion, I hadn't realised how much I'd missed the comforting warmth of the red and gold space. The only thing out of place was the smell of vinegar. I turned to see James sitting there, staring at Liam, as if noticing the boy for the first time. "Well, I'm uh… heading off to bed now. It's been a long day. Nice to meet you Liam, See you in the morning James." I awkwardly backed up towards the Girl's staircase, feeling invisible. James and Liam continued to stare at each other wordlessly. Eventually, once my foot hit the first step, James called after me.

"G'night Lily. Sweet Dreams. I'll see you in the morning." He turned to me and winked, Liam turned quickly and ran up the stairs leaving James there alone.

Five minutes later, I was in my pyjamas, head hitting my pillow. The day had been strange, but I was too tired to think about anything that had happened.


	3. The Many Faces of James Potter

**A/N: Two chapters in one month so far. I'm impressed with myself. I've gotten a couple reviews, so I suppose I've been inspired. Plus I'm on a road trip this weekend so there is tons of time to write. Enjoy.**

** Disclaimer: All characters (except o/c's now I suppose) and locations belong to J.K. Rowling. **

For as long as I remember, Alice had always woken me up on the first morning back at school. This year, the fact that it was a Friday didn't stop my brain from waking me up with the sun, well before I actually had to. Alice still slumbered, being one of the lucky four girls who didn't have treacherous brain that got them out of bed and down to the Great Hall.

To my delight, Aiden sat at the Ravenclaw table, alone, red head bent over the morning paper. I hadn't seen him since before the summer. Aiden had been away over the two months so he hadn't been able to write. It didn't matter though. Every good couple needed their space.

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders from behind, I covered his eyes. "Guess who?" I whispered as he jumped.

"God Lily! You scared me half to death!" He turned and stared at me with his blue eyes.

"I missed you to, silly." I ruffled his red hair a little bit and he scowled at me. Fixing his hair, he sat up and hugged me tightly.

"Sorry Lily. You did scare me though. I missed you a lot over the summer. You know I did." His eyes met mine and he smiled, grinning with perfect teeth. "Have a seat love." Patting the bench beside him, his eyes drifted towards the door, then back to me. "You look amazing by the way." As I sat down, he put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed my arm. "Have you heard about the new Professor- Clany or something like that? She used to be a Ravenclaw student- Teaches Muggle Studies. I heard she's brilliant. Would be though, being a Ravenclaw and all." He beamed with pride. I couldn't respond though because a few of his friends decided to burst into the room at that moment. Regardless of how much I liked Aiden, I couldn't stand his friends. Pompous asses, every single one of them. All of them thought themselves better than me. I was stuck there though, seeing as the Gryffindor table was empty except for a few younger kids that I didn't know.

"Oi! Masters!" One of Aiden's friends called his last name, catching the attention of my boyfriend. He turned and removed his arm from my shoulders to wave. As they reached the table and sat down, he placed his arm around my waist, resting his hand on my hip.

"Did you see the Quidditch Match on the telly the other day?" The boys launched into a full out discussion about the Match and I faded into the background. Aiden's hand slipped from my waist as he high fived one of his friends, and didn't return.

That's when I spotted James and his posse entering the Great Hall, making their way towards the Gryffindor table and sitting down. That was my chance to escape. I didn't care about Quidditch, and James and I were sort of mates now. I slowly stood up, saying goodbye to Aiden who gave me a quick smile and continued on with his conversation.

I walked up to the group of boys only to have their conversation stop abruptly.

"Well hello Evans. Fancy seeing you at the Gryffindor table. I'd almost forgotten you were part of this house." Peter smirked at me as Sirius laughed.

"It's only been a day Peter, hardly enough time for you to forget a face like mine. Mind if I sit down?"

"Bored of your bloke already Evans?" James shuffled over and I sat down in between him and Remus. I shot him a look.

"Don't be silly Potter. I just don't like his mates. Plus, they're going ballistic about Quidditch over there. I figured you lot must be having a better conversation." Sirius laughed even harder and I shot him a glare. "Let me guess. You blokes were talking about the Q-word as well." I rolled my eyes.

"Actually," Remus answered, "we were discussing the differences between the houses, personality wise. I feel like you could be an expert on this subject Lily. Why don't you join in?"

"Erm… what house were we on?" I was trying to figure out if this were a trap or not. It was well known that there was at least one person in each house that the Marauders hated.

"Just so happens that we are discussing the negative aspects of Ravenclaw, Evans," Peter supplied. Great.

James spoke, a smug grin on his face. "You happened to help us prove Sirius' point that they ignore pretty girls." Sirius chuckled again.

"Far too focused on grades and Quidditch, if you ask me," Remus chimed in. "Even by my standards. Could you enlighten us on a few more aspects?"

I thought for a moment. Were they seriously expecting me to put down my boyfriend's house? "I don't think I can add anything to that. I can add a few to your positives chart for Ravenclaw though. They're great for tutoring, always know the right thing to say, and are smart enough to know when they're being idiots."

James scoffed at me statement. "You mean like right now Evans? Those blokes over there obviously don't know that they're being idiots." I could feel my face turning red as I started to speak again.

"Have you lot talked about the negatives of Gryffindor boys? Some of their lovely qualities include being insufferable gits, arrogant pricks, troublemakers, and the fact that they never know when to keep their mouths shut."

"Well the way you put it, I'm glad we've got our looks." Sirius smiled at me.

"Oi, Evans. If you're going to insult us, you're not allowed in this discussion. We were nice enough to let you in." Peter shook his head at me.

James wasn't going to have any of it though, I'd hurt his pride. "How about Gryffindor girls Evans? What do you have to say about them? Would you talk about your low expectations for boys in your house? Or how about the self-esteem issues one in particular has?" James was interrupted by Marlene McKinnon, who plopped herself down heavily next to Peter. "Mary's snoring again. I don't understand how so much noise could come out of someone so small." She stopped talking as she noticed the tension between James and I. "So, should I just assume you two aren't mates, or is this just a bad time?" I could have hit her, but she was a tad too far for me to reach. James looked at Marley, shrugging.

"I don't see any reason why Lily and I wouldn't be mates still, unless she's not able to handle simple observations, of course." I glared at him for a quick moment and shook my head.

"Nope, I'm fine. James had some valid points." Ha, ha, ha. _Self-esteem issues? _My esteem hadn't been higher. I had a great boyfriend, good friends; I was Head Girl for crying out loud. Obviously James had no clue what he was talking about. As if James could sense my internal assurances, he turned to look at me and frowned. I continued speaking. "But I think the only fault of being a Gryffindor girl is being too pretty and having the ambition to kill all crunchy looking leaves." James smiled again slightly, remembering our meeting a week ago. Without anyone noticing, he rubbed his stomach tenderly, fake wincing. I rolled my eyes in response. Finished with my verbal revenge, I took a long drink of orange juice.

"Leaf killers are the worst kind of murderers. Lily, I don't know how anyone can feel safe around you." Marlene bit into her toast. "But I understand your point on Gryffindor girls being pretty. I'm assuming we were talking about the good and bad aspects of each house?"

Peter grabbed the platter that held the eggs. "Well, we were. We've covered all of the houses now though. Sorry Marley, you showed up a few minutes too late."

Marlene turned to James. "So when are Quidditch tryouts Captain? I'm itching to secure my rightful spot as Seeker for the fourth year in a row." A wicked grin spread across James' face.

"Well McKinnon, I'm holding tryouts Saturday afternoon." Marley wasn't happy.

"TOMORROW AFTERNOON?! POTTER! THAT GIVES ME NO TIME TO PRACTICE! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO MAKE IT ON THE TEAM?" Marlene crumpled up the toast in her hand as Sirius began laughing.

"Really Marley? You think anybody else is going to beat you out for Seeker?" Sirius managed to speak in between laughing fits. I watched as Marley's face turned red. "Anyways, James wants to win this year. Getting a head start will help with that. The rest of the teams aren't holding tryouts until next weekend." Sirius had calmed down, and proceeded to chomped down on his bacon.

James spoke up with another explanation to the early tryouts. "This way any new members will have natural talent. We won't have to worry about getting used to flying."

Not long after, the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors made their way down to breakfast as we talked about schedules and Mary McDonald, a small, pretty brunette with large blue eyes joined us, sitting down with us and began scooping some cereal into her bowl. "I've missed it here. I never get to eat sugary cereal at home." Her smile never ended as she began shovelling spoonful's into her mouth. I couldn't help but wonder how she stayed so skinny. Emmeline Vance and Alice Lamone followed soon after Frank Longbottom and Owen Hunter, the final two male Gryffindor student joined us. Emmeline glared at Mary as she ate, and as I looked closer I noticed slight bags underneath her eyes. Alice slid in beside Frank, quickly pecked him on the cheek and began to speak. "Lily, why were you up so early this morning? I didn't have to wake you up. There wasn't a secret rendezvous with a certain Ravenclaw boy in the early hours of the day was there? If so, please do tell." I shook my head as my friends laughed.

"Well it wasn't so secret," James managed to speak before me. "But her run in with her boyfriend apparently didn't end so well." He shot me a smug look.

"James has no clue what the hell he's talking about. Aiden and I were done talking when I came over here to sit at my own table." I shot him a warning glance. If he wanted to continue being mates, he should watch what he said in front of Alice. She'd read in between the lines of any situation and come up with some crazy back story for everything.

"That's not the appearance you gave off when you left those blokes. I'd have to say you looked rather relieved to be away from them." Sirius looked at Peter for assurance and he nodded. Why was I giving these idiots a chance as friends again?

Marlene glanced at the Ravenclaw table, where Aiden and his friends still carried on a pretty animated conversation about something. Knowing how into those discussions Aiden got, he probably still hadn't noticed I was gone. Her gaze then turned to me, a look of pity on her face. I didn't need to deal with this right now. "I've got to run. I'll see you guys in class." Before anyone could ask me any questions, I was out the door. Thinking back on it, that probably wasn't the best thing I could have done in the situation, but it'd already been done.

Passing by Professor McGonagall who was carrying a large stack of papers, I asked for mine early so I could go up to the Common Room to get a few things before class. Of course, she obliged.

Making my way back to the Common Room, I looked over the paper. It was Friday, so I had Potions first, and then Transfiguration right before lunch. After lunch, I only had Charms, followed by a free last period. That was a good thing. A free last period on a Friday was one of the best feelings in the world.

Picking up my quills and parchment from the trunk at the end of my bed, I made my way down to the dungeons. Professor Slughorn wasn't there yet, since class didn't start for a while. I wasn't alone sitting outside the classroom though. Severus Snape stared at me as I sat myself against the wall. This was just great. I'd made a point of avoiding him and his letters, so I hadn't talked to Sev since that day during exams the year before. His eyes stayed fixed on me. I'd been friends with him long enough to know that he was searching for something to say.

"Lily." He'd found it. I ripped my gaze from the ground to look at him. I don't know how it was possible, but he looked even paler than he had before. His clothes hung loosely on his body, but the same thing had been an issue last year. Sev's eyes pleaded with me.

"Sev, I can't." My mouth seemed to slow down as I tried to speak.

"But Lily. I didn't mean it. I saw you at breakfast this morning, talking with Potter-"

"Sev. I mean it. I can't." I cut him off mid-sentence. The way he said James' name made me feel uncomfortable for some reason. Sev had never liked James, for the entire friendship we'd had, Sev had spoken poorly about him. It hadn't ever bugged me before, but things had changed. We had both changed. Even before the incident at the lake, he'd been changing, growing more violent and hateful. Instead of bravely taking the abuse like he normally did, he counteracted and attacked James. In addition to that, he said some mean things about me when I'd tried to help him. I hadn't talked to him since then.

Mulciber, a seventh year Slytherin with questionable intentions came up and kicked Snape to get his attention. With hushed words, he and Snape spoke. Occasionally one of them would look over at me, Mulciber with a sneer on his face, and Snape with a frown on his. I would have said something if Mulciber didn't scare the heck out of me.

A few minutes later Professor Slughorn showed up, his voice booming down the hall. "Welcome! My favorite students have returned to me for another great year of Potions!" Unlocking the door, he fawned over Sev and I, boasting to no one in particular about our "extremely advanced Potion making skills". I couldn't really take much credit though. It was Severus, who'd always had a knack for mixing and chopping and boiling ingredients to make something useful. He'd been an amazing tutor until I'd been able to get a hang of it in our fourth year.

I sat there in a desk as far away from the whispering Slytherins as I could get, with Slughorn writing on a piece of parchment at his desk. My friends and other Slytherin students slowly trickled in to the classroom, taking their seats. Professor Slughorn finally rose from his desk, and addressed the class.

"I'll pair you up first, and then I'll discuss your assignment and what's going to happen this year." He pulled the piece of parchment out and began reading off names.

"James Potter and Sirius Black," _typical. Those two were always together. _"Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." Potions was the only class Remus didn't excel in. Peter did decently, so they'd be paired together. "Marlene McKinnon and Emmeline Vance, Alice Lamone and Frank Longbottom, Mary MacDonald, and Owen Hunter," he continued on with the names until there were only two left. "Lily Evans and Severus Snape." I froze. How did I not realize this would happen? Ever since first year Sev and I had been paired together for Potions. As the two top students in our year for the class, we were prime examples for what everyone's potions should look like. Snape slid into the desk beside me, a blank expression on his face.

"Today we'll be preparing the Draught of Living Death." Murmurs erupted throughout the classroom. Even I knew how hard it was to prepare that Potion. Sev and I might have been able to handle it, but the rest of the class could go horribly wrong. "This year will not be easy. I will have you working hard to pass." Sev calmly took his books out from his bag. "Open your books to page 36 and we'll begin."

Opening up my textbook, I wordlessly walked up to the front of the room and started to fill my cauldron with the necessary ingredients. Returning to my seat, cauldron full and heavy, I plopped it down on my table, bumping Sev's right arm. He shot me an angry look but I could tell he didn't mean it.

"I'll get started with the sophorus bean." I took out my knife and started chopping as Sev got the rest of the ingredients out, adding the water and African Sea Salt into the beaker.

"You need to stop being so silly Lil. I didn't mean what I said. You know that's not how I feel." He kept his eyes down as he spoke. Marlene, who's table was behind mine, laughed quietly.

"No Sev. I happen to know that you're very honest under pressure. You meant what you said. That's why I can't forgive you." I was so angry I cut my sophorus bean unevenly.

"Go get another one." Sev snapped at me. I slammed my knife down onto the table and stormed off to the bowl that held the extra sophorus beans. Returning, Sev looked at me. I picked up the knife and began cutting again. "You know, it works better if you crush it. You can get more juice out."

"The textbook says-"

"You know that I'm right Lily." Sev gave me a pleading look. "Listen to me about this. Have I ever been wrong with this stuff before? I could help you, tutor you. I could teach you how to properly cut beans." He smirked slightly, but I wasn't in the mood to laugh.

"I wouldn't need a tutor if some git weren't making me so bloody angry!" I shook my hand at him, not realizing that I still held the knife until after. He flinched away, and Slughorn yelled at me. We carried on in silence, adding the essence of wormwood to the concoction.

Sev and I finished the Draught well before everyone else, his added and altered directions cutting down on time. We sat awkwardly there until the end of class after we'd cleaned up. Slughorn dismissed us and I stayed seated as everyone around me left. I had to talk to Slughorn.

I walked up to his desk, a determined expression on my face. I was going to be partnered with somebody else. _Anybody _else. I don't think I'd be able to pass Potions if Sev continued to be my partner. I mean, we worked decently today, but I'd get too angry if it continued.

"Yes Miss Evans? Do you have something you'd like to say?" He beamed at me. "You and Mr. Snape were brilliant today!"

"Actually, Professor, I'd like to talk to you about that. I'd like to transfer partners. Sev and I… had a falling out at the end of last year, and I don't think this is the most beneficial arrangement. For either of us."

Professor Slughorn looked at me with consideration. After a moment, he spoke. "I don't think that can happen Miss Evans. All of the other students have been paired together with great planning and consideration. There is one extra Gryffindor in your year, and you've always worked well with Mr. Snape. I'm sure you two can get over whatever has come between you." I held back a retort about how unfair it was. Slughorn had no clue what had happened. But he'd never switched partners before as far as I knew. I don't know what I'd expected to happen.

"Sorry for bothering you Professor." I turned to leave the classroom, preparing myself for Professor McGonagall's wrath towards my being tardy to her first class.

"Miss Evans," Slughorn called after me. "I'll write you up a late pass. Blame it on important Head duties." He winked at me as he scribbled quickly on a piece of parchment. With a flourish, he signed his name and handed me the slip of parchment. "There you go Miss Evans. Have fun in your next class." I nodded in thanks and quickly made my way to Transfiguration.

Every head in the room turned as I entered the classroom. "Glad you've decided to show up Miss Evans. I'm sure that piece of paper in your hand is a letter of apology you've written for being late to my very first class of the year?" McGonagall reached out and I handed her Professor Slughorn's late pass. While she read it over, I sat myself down in the only available seat left next to Alice, who turned to face me, her eyes questioning. I could feel a few more eyes on me as McGonagall continued. "Very well, let's continue now that Miss Evans is done with her important Head Girl business. As I was saying," she continued on with her lecture.

I felt the piece of paper hit the back of my head. Turning around, I spotted it on the floor, picked it up, and looked around to try and find my assailant. Of course it was James Potter. _"Look at it," _he mouthed, miming uncramping the ball.

_Important Head Girl business? Why'd you stay late with Slughorn? –JP_

I waited until McGonagall had turned her attention away and quickly scribbled an answer down on the parchment. Tossing the paper, I managed to hit Potter satisfactorily in the face. His eyes scanned the paper and smirked as he read it. He didn't even bother to wait until McGonagall turned around, but she didn't care. Potter was one of her favorites and I was pretty good at Transfiguration.

_Good shot, by the way. You sure you don't want to play Quidditch? I could get you a spot on the team easily. But Snape? I'd switch with you but Sirius would kill him. Ask Alice or someone. They'd do anything for you right? –JP_

_ Ha ha, very funny. None of my mates would trade with me even if I were paired with a psychopathic serial killer.-LE_

_ Who knows? Maybe you have been. –JP_

_ Watch it Potter. I know Sev made some bad choices last year, but he's still a decent guy.- LE_

I hesitated before tossing the paper back. I knew that James wouldn't appreciate me defending Sev, but old habits die hard. I crossed out the sentence and wrote a new one.

_Watch it Potter. I know Sev made some bad choices last year, but he's still a decent guy.- LE_

I crossed out the line as best as I could and wrote a new reply.

_It's no joking matter James. -LE_

_You know I can still kind of make out what you wrote before you crossed it out. I can't believe you're defending Snivelly. You remember what he did to you right? You know the lot he's hanging out with right? There's no telling what kind of a person he's turned into. - JP_

_ It's not like he could do anything in the classroom Potter. I'm safe. I'll just have to deal with Sev the best I can. –LE_

James wrote something down, but didn't toss it. Instead he stuffed the parchment into his robe pocket and whispered to Sirius.

I tuned in to McGonagall's lesson. I think we were discussing advanced Transfiguration of animals. From there we were moving on to advanced human Transfiguration. "This is your final year. You'll learn about the most important things this year- human to animal transformation for some of you, physical alterations for others.

Finally the paper landed on my desk. Opening it up, I found it wasn't the same paper as before.

_Ready for mentoring tonight? –JP_

I turned to him and nodded. McGonagall dismissed us a few minutes later, and the group started heading to the Common Room to drop off our books before lunch. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find no one there and laughing behind me. I rolled my eyes and lightly pushed into James as he slid in to the left of me.

"Oi! You two! Hands off!" Sirius barked at us from a few paces behind. "She's got a boyfriend Potter." I blushed instantly and moved away from James.

"Erm, what time are we meeting Davey and Bertie for mentoring tonight?" James smirked slightly at me as he noticed my discomfort.

"How about six in the Library? That seems good right?" James nodded, and I quickly said goodbye. Joining Marlene and Alice walking in the hallway, I entered into the middle of their conversation. Alice looked like she was about to burst into tears, which wasn't very common.

"Think about it Alice. How long have you and Frank been going out? Since like, fourth year right? You're allowed to feel this way about him alright?" Marlene put her arm around Alice. "It's understandable that he wouldn't feel the same way. Boys are rather stupid. You don't know if he feels the same way or not. He could want to as well." Alice gave a weak smile, but it wasn't convincing. Her eyes were very red.

"What have I missed?" I joined into the conversation and the two girls turned their heads as we started up the staircases.

"Alice here is having very strong feelings towards her boyfriend. She wants to act on them, but doesn't know if she should. Frank may not feel the same way." Marlene spoke as the boy in question walked at the head of the group, talking with Owen Hunter and Remus Lupin.

"Strong feelings? How strong are they exactly? Love? Lust?"

"Marriage." Alice spoke quickly and quietly. I was at a loss for words. Alice and Frank had been dating for a long time, and I know neither of them could ever belong to someone else, but they were still pretty young. "I don't want to talk to Frank about it because he might not feel the same way. But I'm just," she stopped to search for the word she wanted. "Overwhelmed with emotions right now."

"Alice, I…" I started to speak but she cut me off.

"Don't worry about it guys, I'll figure this out on my own. I'll decide whether I want to tell him or not. We'd reached the Common Room, and began climbing into the Portrait after the others who'd reached the Fat Lady moments before us. "I'm just being silly," she continued once she'd reached the other side. "I am young after all. It's just that I want to make sure this happens. With the war going on outside Hogwarts, you can never know how long you're going to make it."

"Sshh Alice. There's no need to talk like that. All of us will wind up being old ladies with each other, teasing you and Frank about your grandchildren. I promise." Marlene looked at Alice and I with a determined expression. "We'll make it through. Gryffindor girls are tough right?" Alice and I nodded, and with that we all headed up to our room and put away our books.

Lunch was rather uneventful, surprisingly. No one got in any fights, and James didn't piss me off too much. Charms after lunch went well considering James and Sirius managed to bewitch their chairs to start tap dancing before class, getting everyone including Flitwick, into a good mood.

As Flitwick dismissed us, and I started to make my way up to the Common Room for some much needed sleep. It wouldn't do being tired for mentoring, and I was knackered. Apparently, people had other plans though. A loud crashing noise came from downstairs, startling me from my half asleep state. I ran downstairs, nearly slamming into the wall on the landing only to find James Potter closing his fist around a small golden snitch. He turned to face me, surprise on his face. "Evans!" After a moment he smiled.

"What the hell have you done?"

"I was, erm… trying to catch the snitch and it got a little too high so I jumped and," he pointed to the broken lamp on the floor beside him. "I was about to clean it up when you came down. You've got last free today to?" He smiled at me and took out his wand, cleaning up the mess.

"Yeah." I shot him a glare. "Can you keep it down though? I'd planned on sleeping."

"I can tell Evans. You're hair's a tad messed up." I quickly reached up to my hair to pat it down. Still glaring, I turned around and started up the staircase. "Evans!" James called after me.

"What do you want Potter?"

"Do you want me to pick you up some food at dinner? Or do you plan on rejoining the living before our meeting?" I thought about it. I had an hour and a half before class ended, then another two hours before dinner. Three hours was a pretty good nap, but four and a half? A dream come true.

"Sure Potter. It would be much appreciated." He nodded, and then tilted his head to one side.

"What am I going to get out of this though?" I knew it. That prat never did anything out of the goodness of his heart. I wasn't planning on parting with anything during this deal. Sleep wasn't worth anything of mine that Potter would want.

"The satisfaction of a job well done?" I suggested playfully.

"Well that's no fun." Well so much for that.

"A non- grumpy Lily for the rest of the night?" He pretended to think about it for a moment, and then spoke again.

"Fine." I opened my mouth to offer something else but stopped before I could. Had he just agreed? Without getting any proper reward for doing it? Maybe a little bit of Summer James had carried on into the school year. "But know this Evans, if you're grumpy at all tonight, you've broken the deal and I expect your servitude for the whole weekend, starting tomorrow, bright and early at seven." He held out his left hand to shake on it, but I held back suspiciously.

"Why seven?" James smirked a bit, and then his face went serious.

"Can't tell you until after we shake on it. It's your choice Evans. Do you want to choose between sleep or starvation?" I racked my mind for a reason James would be up that early on a Saturday. That was when I'd been up this morning and James and his friends hadn't been up until later, and that was a school day. I'm sure that standing there, I wouldn't of been able to imagine the horrible things James could have made me do. So I agreed, we shook on it, and I went back upstairs after James promised to be quieter in his game of "be an idiot and chase a snitch around a common room."

I don't know how it happened, but by some miracle even when classes ended and all my noisy roommates came to put their books away for the week, I stayed asleep. Making my way downstairs around 5:45, much more awake and happy than I'd been during the rest of the day, I was pleased to find a big plate of delicious-looking food. James sat by it, along with Mary and Emmeline, who were laying on the floor, their textbooks propped open, quills flying at inhuman speeds. Em, who'd been facing the staircase, noticed me first.

"Lily!" She called. "Get down here and eat some of this food. It's distracting me from my studies. You know how I love my studies." She rolled her eyes and set down her quill. Mary sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Em, why do I get the feeling that you wouldn't mind being distracted for a little while?" I made my way over to the table the food was on, and plopped down on the couch.

"You look much better Lily, compared to earlier. And remember our bet. Good moods only, otherwise I own you for the next two days." I supressed the urge to glare, and instead smiled sweetly.

"Right you are James; I looked horrid earlier didn't I? Thank you _ever _so much for fetching me this plate."

"I do know sarcasm when I hear it Lily. Even more so when you lay it on that thickly. I'm debating adding that rule no sarcasm." I shook my head and smiled again.

"Can't do that mate. Rules have already been established." I grinned wickedly at him. Small victories were better than none. He couldn't argue with that, so he opened up his book and read until I finished eating. After that, we headed down to the library. I guess James had gotten a hold of the two younger boys somehow, whether it was through McGonagall or on his own, because the two met us there, sitting tensely on either side of a table near the Charms section of the library.

Bertram Aubrey, a third year Ravenclaw student with a superiority complex and a bad attitude to go with it, sat on the left, glaring at me with his nearly clear blue eyes. Davey Gudgeon, a more passive Gryffindor third year sat on the right, staring at the table, drumming his fingers on his leg. Lucky for me, James and I had decided that I should mentor Bertram instead of James, due to the fact that they would kill each other.

"Do you lot want to stay together for this one, or split up?" James pulled out a chair and sat down at the table as he spoke, and the two boys stayed silent. "I take it you'd like to separate. Lily, is that alright with you?" I nodded, considering I didn't want any fighting going on during our first meeting. It was obvious that it would happen if they stayed together. So I found myself sitting at a table near Herbology, a fair distance away from James and Davey.

"Let's get this over with," Bertram sighed as he fixed his blue and bronze tie. It was going to be hard to keep my deal with James if his attitude didn't change.

"Look Bertie, Dumbledore has asked me to help you. All I want to do is talk. Is there anything you want to talk about?" I looked at Bertie, concern in my eyes.

Bertie looked at me with disgust. "Why would I want to talk to you? I barely know you."

"Well let's change that shall we?" I tried my hardest to seem sincere. This kid was getting on my nerves. He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded half-heartedly. "Where do you want to start?" I should have known not to even bother asking. Bertie unsurprisingly shrugged.

"Where ever." How the hell did anyone talk to this kid? I was almost starting to think James would have had more luck in getting something out of him. Maybe I just had to take the initiative, think more like James.

"I guess I'll start then, if you don't mind." I didn't expect him to, so I didn't bother waiting at all. "My name is Lily Evans, I'm seventeen, Gryffindor, and I'm in my last year. Once I graduate I plan on becoming an Auror. During the summers, I go and stay with my mother and sister, who are both Muggles-"I was cut off by a short laugh. "What's so funny?" Bertie's expressionless face now displayed a smug face.

"What about your dad?" Was he serious?

"He's not around anymore," I replied hesitantly.

"I figured as much. But what I meant is was he a Muggle?" _Excuse me_?

"Yes, he was. Why does that matter?" Bertie looked at me with distaste.

"So you're a Muggleborn. A _Mudblood" _The instant the word was out of his mouth, my face flushed with anger.

"What's wrong with that Bertie? I'm also Head Girl. And a witch. I'm no different from anyone else in this school. Maybe better in fact, than some people." I was done with this kid. Dumbledore could get angry with me. He could announce me a failure as a Head Girl and take the title away from me. I didn't care anymore. There was no way I was mentoring a person like Bertram Aubrey.

"You think you're better than me Evans? My father's told me all about your kind. You're the reason why Voldemort and his followers are attacking the Wizarding world. Filth like you are the reason my Uncle and Mother died. My Mother was a Pure-Blood, and they she because she happened to be walking around with a few Mudbloods and was attacked. You're to blame for the deaths of countless witches and wizards." Every word he spoke stung as it reached my ears. The sad thing? It was true. This war was being waged because people like me existed. Trust me; I was grateful for this chance. That didn't change the fact that there was truth in the words I'd just heard. I could feel the tears starting to come to my eyes as I thought about it. Bertie sat there watching with satisfaction at his job well done. He had done his job well if his aim was to hurt me. I took a deep breath. There was no way I was letting him win this.

"We're done here Bertie. You can go do whatever you want." I got up from the table and walked over to the Divination section of the library where no one was sitting and sat down by myself. By the time I'd reached my table Bertie was gone. Good riddance. Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw that James still had a nearly an hour with Davey. Hopefully he'd have a better session with his kid than I had with mine. Then the night wouldn't have been a complete waste.

When James rejoined me at seven, Davey at his side, the two were laughing and smiling like idiots. It seemed that Davey, like the majority of the school, was in awe of the Head Boy.

"Hello Miss Grumpy Pants. It seems that I've won the bet. Should I ask how it went?" I gave James my sweetest smile as I tried my hardest not to cry.

"You're mistaken Potter. My meeting went so well I didn't even have to go the full hour. Bertie and said everything we had to within five minutes." You could see the concern in James' face, but he didn't say anything because Davey was there. What kind of example would I be if I started crying then and there about what Bertie had said?

"Davey, you know what? Lily and I have some Head business to do still tonight. I'll meet you back at the Common Room later alright? We can get together sometime in a few days." James flashed him a dazzling smile that made his hazel eyes crinkle a little bit. I had to admit, it even made me feel a bit better myself. Davey nodded and ran off to do other things with other people.

James grabbed my hand and pulled me from my seat, quickly leading me from the library and into the hallway. From there we walked a little while to some random deserted hallway in the castle. He let go of my hand, but I grabbed it again. That hand was the one thing reminding me there was another thing around me, preventing me from breaking down. James slowly sat down against the wall, and I sat down beside him, letting go of the bag strap I'd been twisting and resting the free hand in my lap.

"Do you want me to go get someone Lily? Marlene? Alice? I'll even get Aiden if you really want me to." I turned to look at James, and the expression on his face did me in. It was night and day difference from how James and Bertie- both two Pure Blood Wizards- treated me. Bertie rightly blamed me for his problems in the war, while James showed concern. Understood that me, personally, had had no part in the deaths that had occurred due to the unfair hate of an evil man.

That realization is why I cried in front of James that night. Leaning against his shoulder, he put his arm around me and let me cry for a few minutes. His arm started rubbing my arm in circles and let out a low chuckle.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that you were lying when you told me that you had a good meeting, unless you really just wanted an excuse to cry on me." I hit him lightly in the arm. "Do you want to talk about it, or do you want me to leave you alone?" He squeezed my hand and I realized that he'd been holding it the entire time.

"You can stay if you'd like Potter. I'll be here for a bit. I don't want anyone seeing me with red eyes." James lifted up my face by my chin, removing his hand from mine to do so.

"You look fine Lily. It's really hard to tell that you've been crying." His hand dropped back onto his lap. "But if I stay are you going to tell me what happened? It would make things easier for me." Like that day in the summer, I found myself wanting to tell James everything that had happened. I took a deep breath in. I needed to tell the story without crying. I wasn't the kind of girl who cried, yet in the past two weeks, I'd cried in front of James twice.

James listened well as I explained to his how Bertie had blamed me for everything. As I spoke, I felt as if I was lifting a heavy weight from myself. James' hand continued rubbing my arm comfortingly and by the end of the recollection, I no longer felt like crying. In the end, despite still hating Bertie for what he'd said, I found myself almost defending the kid.

"He's not all bad. He's just got a big head, too full of himself for his own good. He thinks he's great and he lets everyone know it. Plus, that mentality isn't all his. His dad must have had some part in that. He's hurt and he took it out on someone else."

"I can't believe you're defending him Lily. You always look for the best in people, but there is no good in that prat. He hurt you, and you make excuses for him. If it were me, I would have hexed him then and there. You know why him and Davey have to do this thing in the first place? He attacked Davey on the train for his background, and Davey fought back. I don't know why Dumbledore is still letting the arse stay at the school. He could be dangerous. I never thought I'd say that about a kid, but I am."

James, in his anger, had stood up and started pacing the hallway. His face had grown red and his hands clenched into tight fists.

"I wouldn't have told you if I'd known you'd get so worked up about it Potter," I said quietly. Angry James was reckless, impulsive, dangerous.

"Don't say that Lily! Someone had to be told. If Davey isn't getting better, he shouldn't be at this school! Something has to be done about it, and all due respect to Dumbledore, nothing is going to be done unless we do it ourselves." My heart raced. If James did anything to Bertie, he could be expelled. At the least, Bertie would tell his dad and James would be punished.

"James! Don't do anything please. I can handle this myself. I don't need anything done to Bertie. He has the right to think what he wants-"

"Are you saying he's justified in hate crimes? He attacked Davey for being Muggleborn, and now he's accusing you of starting the war! Lily, you can't expect me to just sit by and watch!"

"That is exactly what I expect you to do James!" I found myself on my feet as well. "I won't have you getting in trouble for my problems." I walked up to him and pressed my finger against his chest. It didn't even come into my mind how much taller than me he was, by a head at least. I was angry though, so I didn't realise how unintimidating I must have seemed. "You aren't allowed to touch Bertie, got it? I'll handle him my own way. I never asked you to defend me. I'm going to do this by myself." The both of us knew that meant nothing was going to happen, but neither of us said anything. James simply nodded, looking down at me with wide eyes. I gave him one last poke in the chest and turned around, walking back to the Common Room, leaving James standing stunned in the hallway. Looking at my watch I discovered how long I'd actually been sitting there with James in the hall. At least an hour had passed, and I was didn't want to see Davey or James when they got back to the Common Room. So I headed up to the Seventh Year Girls dorm room. Mary and Alice sat in their beds already, Mary looking particularly tired. I assumed the sound of the shower in the bathroom was Emmeline since I'd seen Marley on the couch talking about potential Quidditch juniors in the younger years with some of the team from last year.

Mary and Alice watched me as I entered the room and made my way over to my bed. "You look like you've been crying Lils. What happened?" Alice always got to the point.

"I think I'll wait for Em to get out of the shower and for Marley to get up here." I sat down on my bed and fixed my hair a bit.

"Aiden didn't break up with you did he?" Mary asked with concern in her voice. I shook my head, and I swore Alice looked a bit disappointed. I wasn't going to confront her on that right now though. So Mary, Alice, and very shortly after- Em, all waited for Marley to come up. When she did, she made quite an entrance.

Swinging the door open, she burst into the room, nearly fuming "Lily," she barked at me. "James has told me to tell you that he expects you downstairs at seven, something about Quidditch tryouts. You aren't trying out as well then are you? God knows how much competition I have tomorrow. Potter has really screwed me over this year." She flopped face down on her bed, groaning into her comforter.

Mary looked around the room at everyone else who shared in her confusion. "Erm, two things. First off, Lily- Quidditch tryouts? You don't even really like Quidditch. I mean, you're dating a Quidditch player but you're not interested in the actual game." Alice grinned slyly.

"Unless she's interested in a certain _Gryffindor _Quidditch player. She'd go to tryouts to see _him _play, wouldn't she?"

"No! I mean, James and I are mates. I'd go see the tryouts to support Marlene and James. Maybe Sirius if you really got down to it, considering I suppose we're mates as well, but I'm not tryout. I much prefer it on the ground thank you very much. Besides, I wouldn't try out even if I liked the game. I'd obviously lose to Marlene." I crossed my arms over my chest as Alice deflated.

Mary spoke again. "Which brings me to my second question. Marlene McKinnon, what the hell has possessed you to think you've got a chance at losing your position? You're the best seeker Gryffindor has seen for years! Who do you think has a chance at beating you?"

Marley lifted her head off of the bed a small distance so we could hear her mumble a name.

"Martha Hooper." I'd heard the name mentioned a few times in the past, but I'd never met her personally. From the mentions, I'd heard that her father was the owner of some famous Quidditch team, so that may give her some advantage, but I'd seen Marlene fly and the team hadn't lost a game that she had played.

"Rubbish!" I exclaimed. "There's no chance some dinky second year is going to beat you out. Gryffindor hasn't lost with you as their seeker. Plus James has a personal attachment to you. He couldn't replace you."

Marlene snorted. "You obviously haven't met Quidditch James then. He'd sell his own soul to win the Cup this year." Seriously? Another version of James? How many more could there be?

We had nothing to say to this, since we all knew it was true. After a few moments of silence, Marley spoke again.

"We are going to bed then." All of us simultaneously looked at Marlene as if she was crazy.

"Now Marley? It's only eight thirty," Emmeline tried to reason with her.

Marlene pouted and batted her eyelashes. "If you loved me, you'd know how important this is to me. I need to get a good night's sleep."

"Can't we just go to sleep later? You can sleep now if you'd like Marley, but I'm not tired." There was no way I could fall asleep now.

"Nope. You all make way too much noises while you're getting ready for bed. It's all or nothing. And I'm going to bed now. Lily, you would listen to me if you knew how James gets around Quidditch." She gave me a pointed look and hopped off of her bed, walking into the bathroom. There was no way we were getting out of this.

"She is right, I suppose," Mary agreed. "She's going to need sleep." I had to be down in the Great Hall for seven tomorrow for Day 1 of my Servitude Towards James Potter. I could already tell it wasn't going to be fun.

**A/N: Wow, this was a long one. I'd originally planned for this one to include the beginning of the next chapter, but I figured it was really long already, so I've ended it here. **

** Next one will be up soon, thank you for reading :)**


	4. Servitude

"Servitude"

**A/N- I'm sorry this took so long to upload. I've been really busy with school and everything. It's up now, and I'm on winter break now so I'll be able to write more often. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews :D**

The beautiful morning at the school was tainted by the thought of being up at seven to watch something I wasn't even interested in. I still had no clue what James had in store for me as I made my way down to the Great Hall, Marlene freaking out about everything she could while she walked down with me.

"Stupid bloody Martha Hooper- she just had to come along in my final year, didn't she? I'm just going to have to beat her to a pulp in tryouts today. She's got to know how much it takes to be a Gryffindor Seeker. I'm going to give her an example of what she needs." Overnight, Marlene's attitude towards Martha Hooper had changed from intimidation to an unhealthy competitiveness. I'm not even sure what had happened, but it had definitely had an effect.

"Marley, if the chances of Martha winning were a cupcake, yours would be a 12 tier wedding cake."

"Er, Lily, I love you and rarely ever question your sanity, but what are you talking about? Why are we comparing my position on the Quidditch team to baked goods?" Turning into the Great Hall, Marley shot me a questioning look followed by a grin.

"I'm hungry Marley. Please don't judge me." As if to prove my point, my stomach let out an impressive growl.

"Oh, I'm judging."

By then, we'd sat down at the almost empty Gryffindor table and begun to eat. Aiden wasn't at his table since no other Captain had their potential team members up early this morning. Marley continued on her rant, and half an hour later she was blaming the House Elves for not making her favorite for breakfast. By then, quite a bit of the Great Hall had been filled and students happily chattered all around us.

"They've probably been paid off by Martha Hooper! She's most likely heard that it's my favorite and if I don't have it it'll put me off my game! Lily, what am I going to…?" She trailed off as she realized the room had gone nearly silent. I turned my head to follow the gaze of nearly every student in the Hall to the door.

There stood one young Bertram Aubrey, a cast on his arm, and his face turning beet red. Marlene turned to look at me, speaking in a hushed tone. "What happened to him? You were supposed to meet with him yesterday, how'd that go?" It was then that I realized I hadn't told my roommates about my meeting with Bertie last night. Marlene had burst in all pouty and I had completely forgotten about it.

Alice would kill me when she realized.

"I have no clue what happened to Bertie. He was in perfectly fine condition last time I saw him." He wasn't fine now though. Bertie had finally made it to his seat, where his friends huddled close around him.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard by now Lil's." Aiden slid in beside me and pecked me on the cheek. He set his plate down beside mine and spoke again. "Bertie had a rather humiliating run in with two members of your own house last night. Your new _mates _attacked a kid from my house last night and he broke his arm."

"Who did it?" I asked, and almost in answer, James Potter and Sirius Black sat down in the seats opposite us. "_You didn't."_ Sirius grinned slightly, trying unsuccessfully to hide his amusement.

"That depends on the action in question doesn't it Evans?" Sirius began to scoop eggs onto his plate. "We could have done it, but we won't be able to tell you unless you're specific.

I slammed my hand down on the table and Aiden put his over it softly. "Did you, or did you not break Bertram Aubrey's arm?"

James and Sirius looked at each other and then shook their heads at the same time. Aiden laughed quietly to himself. "That's not what I've heard."

James spoke up for the first time that morning. "We didn't break anything. It's not our fault the idiot ran into a wall." Sirius added on to James' statement.

"Although it would be hard to see said wall when your head was twice its usual size." He almost giggled as he said it; he was so pleased with himself.

"HIS HEAD WAS WHAT?" The vast majority of the kids in the Great Hall turned to look at the five of us. "James Potter! I specifically remember telling you NOT to do anything to the kid."

"Calm down Evans." Sirius looked amused with my reaction. "There isn't any need to start anything here with us. McGonagall has already given us double detention."

Aiden, James and I all spoke at once.

"That's all you got?" This was from Aiden.

"I don't need you to defend me Potter." This from myself. But the most prominent voice of the three was from James himself.

"What else did you expect me to do Evans? Believe me; I know you don't need anyone defending you. But when somebody goes after one of _my mates, _I take it personally. You were a mess last night Lily. You can't expect me to just grin and bear it when I can do something to put things right. I'm not sorry for what I did- you'll just have to accept that."

I stared open mouthed at James, who stared at me in return. A few seconds later, I spoke again. "James. I'm touched that you'd get yourself in trouble to defend me. But there is a line, and hurting a kid is crossing that line. You don't have to be sorry. Just understand that I don't want it happening again, alright?"

"That's all the git gets?" Aiden's voice beside me startled me. I'd nearly forgotten he was there. "He illegally hexes a student, causing him to break his arm, and all he gets is some detention and a stern talking to?"

"C'mon Masters," Sirius butted in. "We all know the only reason you're upset about this at all is because the kid was from your house. It wouldn't have made any difference in your life if it had been some Slytherin second year, or a Hufflepuff." Aiden glared at Sirius.

"Don't be so smug about it Black. You're just lucky Dumbledore isn't calling this a hate crime. Everybody knows your family's violent history."

"Aiden, do you even know what Bertram said to me to cause this whole thing?" On a normal occasion, I wouldn't have defended these two against my boyfriend. This was different. "Bertram Aubrey verbally attacked me. This kid you're defending? He had blamed me for the war, and had me crying in a hallway. A member of your house called me a _Mudblood._ You wouldn't be defending the arse if you knew that would you?" Aiden's eyes searched mine, and I was disappointed by his response.

"Doesn't mean he deserved to be attacked. You can get over being called a few names. It will take a few weeks at least, even with the nurses' help to heal Bertie's arm. He was supposed to try out for the team next week. Aubrey's supposed to take over the position of Seeker for our old one. What are we supposed to do now?" I couldn't believe him. My boyfriend was supposed to be there for me. He was choosing some stupid kid and Quidditch over me.

"This is why I'm siding with these two over you right now. Regardless of the fact that I'm pissed off at them, at least they care about the fact that I'm hurt. You, on the other hand, don't seem to give a fucking rat's arse about me at all!" I turned away from him and Marlene stood up, grabbing his arm and leading him away from the table. After a few hushed words with him out of earshot, she returned to the table.

"You'd better explain what just happened Lily. I think I deserve an explanation." She was right, of course, so I retold the events of the prior night, with the added bits from James and Sirius about what had happened on your end.

The boys had obviously decided to take Bertie's big-headedness to heart and act on it. After I'd left him, James had run into Sirius who was making his way up to the library to find James. The two boys decided to track down the young Ravenclaw and resize his head so it matched his ego. Bertie, in his panicked state had freaked out and ran right into a wall, arms stretched out in front of him, managing to break one of them. James and Sirius had brought him to the Nurse, despite being the ones who'd caused all of it in the first place, where the Nurse had contacted McGonagall.

"She would have given us worse punishments if there hadn't been Quidditch this weekend. The amount of times that has gotten us out of sticky situations is unbelievable. Double detentions aren't bad either. Filch will just leave us to scrub pots and we goof off while we do it." James shrugged his shoulder as if to say it meant nothing. I'd said my piece about James and his reputation as Head Boy last night. It had obviously had no effect on him. There was no point in arguing with him anymore. Marley stayed quiet as I spoke again.

"So should we start heading down to the Pitch? Tryouts are starting soon right?" I was shocked as my three breakfast companions jumped in surprise and looked at their watches.

"Oh shit!" James grabbed a piece of toast and started running out of the Great Hall. Sirius on the other hand took his time and managed to shovel another forkful of egg into his mouth before swallowing and standing up.

"Are you two lovely ladies joining us? Lily, I'm sure James will need his servant to keep him calm today. So will Marley, and I'm sure you need a distraction after this morning's events." I gave Sirius a questioning look.

"And how am I supposed to keep Potter calm? I'm pretty sure I make him more furious than anything else. "We began to head out to the Pitch and Sirius put his arm around me.

"You do more good for him than bad, at least so far Evans- more than I'm willing to admit. Just act like your pretty little self and James will stay much calmer than he would be if I tried to do the same."

Marlene grabbed my arm and squeezed it tightly. "Please Lily! I need a calm James for this. Do it for me. You know how much this means to me." She was right. A calm James was the best kind. He'd been decently calm as Summer James. When something made James Potter frustrated or angry, he did something stupid. I'd learned that first hand today. Regardless of the fact that I didn't care much for Quidditch, I was loyal to our team. And I was loyal to my friend. This meant a lot to Marlene, and I would help her out the best I could.

So the three of us made our way down to the Quidditch Pitch to find James already in his gear. A group of nervous looking students stood off to one side, glancing over at the Captain occasionally. There was one exception to this group- Martha Hooper. Standing there, inspecting her broom for any imperfection, she looked up at us as we arrived, singling out Marlene and glaring. It seemed that Martha to, thought she had some major competition. Marlene herself stood with the other two team members from the previous year.

"Oi! Evans!" Sirius' voice carried over the pitch from the equipment hut. He motioned for me to join him and James as they spoke.

"Good luck Marley!" I called as I ran off to join them. The moment I got there, James placed an extra coat over my shoulders.

"It gets cold here during practice and I forgot to mention it. Looks like you're wearing my coat." I was immediately grateful. Even on the way down here, I'd been chilly. For the first weekend of September, this weather was unusually poor. Zipping up the jacket, I nodded my appreciation. "So Lily, your job out here today is going to be watching."

"Well I'm good at that, I suppose. Is there anything in specific that you'd like me to watch Potter?" James smirked as he continued.

"Watch for any cheating- anyone with their wands out. Quidditch tryouts are known for young witches and wizards desperate for a spot on the team. Anything that could get them a spot on the team could be attempted. It's quite insane, really, but it happens. In my first year they caught a third a year girl hexing someone's broom so that is permanently flew at an angle." James, who usually had a joke about everything, was stone face serious. It actually frightened me for a moment.

"What about you two? I'm sure you must have tried something." Sirius shook his head.

"You think the two of us would need magic to get on this team? The second-year Prongs and Padfoot were too cocky for that. I mean, we had a right to be cocky. We made it on the team without a problem, and we did it fairly. Not that we would have risked it anyways. If you get caught cheating, you aren't allowed on the team at all, for the entire time you're at Hogwarts. They don't tell the kids that of course, considering we want to weasel out the honest kids from the dishonest ones." Sirius looked out at the crowd of potential Quidditch players, judging them. "This seems like an honest bunch so you shouldn't be too worried. Keep an eye out though." I nodded as we headed over to the crowd.

"ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY!" yelled James as he addressed the crowd. "WELCOME TO THE 1977 to 1978 GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS!" I leaned in close to Sirius.

"Does he really have to yell? The kids are close enough to him for him to not have to yell." But I could see that James' tone was having an effect on the kids. Nervous even before James had started speaking, the young Gryffindor students seemed ready to run for it. I mean, I can't deny the fact that this was a tactic that would weed out the determined, but I felt sorry for them. The only students who didn't appear fearful of their lives were the returning students. Even Martha Hooper's attitude had subsided a little. Every once in a while she glanced down at her feet.

"It makes him feel powerful." Sirius chuckled. "It'll wear off in a few weeks."

"TODAY YOU'LL BE TESTED TO SEE IF YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE ON OUR TEAM- THE BEST TEAM AT HOGWARTS!" Despite her nervousness, Marlene managed to join in with the proud cheers of the remnants of last year's team. James gave a few more encouraging words and then I was told to seat myself in the bleachers for the first event of the day. James had divided up the young Team hopefuls into groups in which they'd be tested for the position they wanted to try out for. Sirius, who's position of Beater, was unchallenged, and well as the two other students from the year before. The already filled positions would help James in the judging process for the day.

I made my way up to the top of the stands where I'd be able to see everything, aided by my magically enhanced binoculars. Stuffing my hand in the oversized pocket of the coat, I was pleased to find a Gryffindor scarf rolled up neatly. Sitting there in the cold, windy stands, I was extremely grateful for the coat and scarf. I'd never tell James, but they smelled really nice as well. So I sat there, staring through the binoculars, scarf covering the bottom half of my face taking in the smell of cologne. Watching the tryouts taking place below me, I carefully observed the potential team members. I sat there for the first hour, not sure if the lack of useful observations was a good thing or not. I mean, I was glad that no one was going to get in trouble but at the same time I was getting bored. The entire night I'd been worrying about being James' slave for nothing.

I heard something beside me and ripped the binoculars away from my face to find the Gryffindor first year- Liam Travers, sitting beside me. "Liam! You startled me!" I hadn't seen Liam since that first night.

"Sorry Lily. I'm just here to watch the tryouts." Sitting close to the edge of the stands, he leaned over the railing to look at the events on the ground. I put the binoculars back on my face as Liam spoke again. "Quidditch has always been my passion. I can't wait to try out next year." He was even more like James than just his looks. "What are you doing here Lily? You don't seem like the Quidditch type." James zoomed into the view of my binoculars, observing the tryouts from a closer vantage point. Sirius joined him quickly after.

"I owe a friend a favour." That was kind of true. I wasn't about to go telling him that I had a temper issue that had resulted in a say of servitude. James nudged Sirius and pointed towards Martha Hooper as she descended from the sky, straight towards the ground in a nose dive. Looking closer, I saw the glitter of gold that must have been the Snitch reflecting light from the low autumn sun, hovering about ten feet from the ground. Marlene sat perched on her broom near the center of the pitch, about thirty yards away, watching wide-eyed as Martha dropped. I suppressed the urge to call to her. If she didn't start moving soon Marlene wasn't going to beat Martha to the prize. A bludger whizzed by Marlene's head and she realized what she had to do. Leaning forwards on her broom, she took off faster than anyone I'd ever seen before. It wasn't enough though. It had taken Marlene too long to move that Martha was nearly on the Snitch. Taking the binoculars away from my face I began to jump in my seat nervously. Liam looked over at me curiously and then noticed what was happening. He saw it before I did.

"Oh no! They're going to collide!" It seems as if the rest of the potentials had noticed as well since the whole field seemed frozen except for the two Seeker hopefuls. The two of them either hadn't noticed the other, or had noticed and didn't care. Someone was going to get hurt in this stupid game of chicken. Owen Hunter, another Seventh year hopeful unfroze and began to fly towards the pair. James began to call towards Owen, telling him to stop, but Owen didn't seem to care. The Snitch remained hovering in place as if it knew the disaster it was about to bring, but wanted to see it anyways. Marlene shot through the air as Martha gained more and more speed. There was no way of avoiding this.

The world slowed down as the two Gryffindor girls reached the Snitch. I couldn't believe it. Marlene had managed to grab hold of the small golden ball and nearly made it out unscathed. But Martha, realising her loss had pulled up a moment too late. The tail of her broom came down hard on Marlene's, knocking Marlene from it. She was too high to land on the ground safely. The Snitch had risen up to about fifty feet as the two had raced. So Marley fell.

I couldn't look. Tearing my eyes from the scene I noticed Liam muttering something to himself. I didn't think much of it though as panic tore through my body, anticipating the crash of body on earth.

But it never came.

Instead, a cheer erupted from below and I unclenched my hands from James' scarf. I hadn't even realized I'd been holding it so tightly. Peeking over the railing, I saw Marlene lying in Owen's arms. He must have flown underneath them as Martha and Marlene had raced, preparing to catch someone. Good thing he had otherwise things could have gotten bad. All of the players touched down to the ground as I raced down the stairs to the Pitch.

Marlene sat on the ground next to Owen as I reached her. James was yelling at Martha, which I found to be a bit extreme. She'd only been doing what she was supposed to do. Sirius came up next to me as I looked over the unharmed but shocked Marlene. Sirius grabbed my arm once I'd decided that Marlene, who was still holding the Snitch in her fist, was okay. Pulling me aside, he spoke.

"James is going to give the position to Marlene. Not out of pity though. She flew faster, not to mention she did get the Snitch. Martha can try again next year." We stood there in silence for a while. How were things up where you were? Did you see anything?" I shook my head.

"Other than Liam Travers coming to sit with me, nothing happened." Sirius gave me a look.

"Travers?"

"Yes. Liam Travers. He's a first year Gryffindor with an uncanny resemblance to James."

"I've heard of him. James mentioned him on the first night back. He wouldn't happen to have any relationship with Piers Travers? The Slytherin bloke who went here a few years back?" I shook my head, although the memory of the aforementioned Slytherin came back to me.

"I've really got no clue. All I know is that he's a nice kid. Piers was a creepy scumbag. If they are related then they have nothing in common."

"I'd hope so. I wouldn't want a kid like that in my House." Sirius looked up as James began to speak to the crowd again.

"ALRIGHT THEN… I THINK THAT'S GOING TO CONCLUDE OUR TRYOUTS. YOU'VE GOT THE REST OF THE DAY TO YOURSELF, I'LL DECIDE WHO HAS MADE IT AND GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE." He looked shaken up and unsteady as he spoke. In fact, I'm not sure that any one of the potential team members would have wanted to continue after seeing what they'd just seen. Quidditch injuries were a very common thing, but to have one happen while you're flying around would be unsettling.

Martha sped by me as James approached the small group huddled around Marlene. "No really Owen. I'm fine," Marlene assured a concerned Owen again that she was uninjured. "Thanks to you. I'm really grateful you were there to catch me." Owen nodded silently as Marlene stood up. I put my arm around her.

"I'm so glad you're okay! You have no clue how worried I were about you." Marlene glanced once at James, who'd begun to talk to Sirius. "You made it don't worry. Martha Hooper can take her second year butt and sit in the stands at your first game." I grinned at Marley who smiled weakly. We started back up to the castle along with the other Gryffindors.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice called out clear through the chilly air. Turning, I found James standing there with his hands on his hips. It was almost comical.

"Erm, back to the school with Marlene? It's lunch time." I motioned back to the castle with my thumb. James' eyebrows shot up.

"Really? Are you now?" Sirius brushed past me as James motioned for me to come closer. Turning quickly I saw Sirius whisper something into Marley's ear and lead her away.

"You're still my servant for the day Evans- you remember that I hope? Sirius can take care of McKinnon." I looked back once more to see the pair exiting the Pitch. Sighing, I mock bowed to James.

"What is next on this agenda of yours my lord? What will you have me do next? Maybe we can bring Emma out here and nearly kill her to?" James grinned half-heartedly. He was obviously still shaken up about what had happened. That was understandable; he was in charge out here. If anything had happened, he would have had to answer for it.

"There'll be no need for Em to come out here. We're having a picnic." We began to walk towards one of the stands.

"A picnic? I'm sorry Potter but it's a tad chilly isn't it?" I pulled his jacket tighter around me as we reached the bottom of the steps.

"Don't worry Evans, I've got it covered. Stay here for a moment." Starting up the stairs he rejoined me a few moments later with a large picnic basket. Reaching into it he pulled out a black strip of cloth.

"Now what the hell is that for?" I stared at the cloth knowing exactly what it was for before James could say anything. "Wait- oh hell no." James grinned as he started walking towards me.

"C'mon Evans, it's just some fun. I can't have you knowing my secret spot! I won't let you run into anything, I promise. I'm a good guide." He stood behind me and set down the picnic basket. "Besides, you owe me. You'd have frozen if it weren't for my jacket. And I see you've found my scarf." I gave in and he wrapped the cloth around my eyes, blinding me. "Is it too tight?" James grabbed my hand as I shook my head.

James led me up the hill back towards the school and up the stone steps to the large front doors. That much I could tell from the transition of cold to warm when we entered the school. The rest was guessing as we turned down corridor after corridor. For all I knew, James was leading me in circles for kicks. The only time he spoke was when we'd reached a staircase. "Watch your step here Evans. Want me to carry you?" I turned down his offer and we slowly made our way up the seemingly unending staircase.

Finally we came to a stop and James let go of my hand. "Don't take off the blindfold yet, I've got one more thing to do before you're allowed to see again." I heard him fiddling with something and he grabbed my hand again, pulling me forwards.

There was the sound of a door closing behind me and the James was tugging at the bow holding the blindfold on. Suddenly- light, and I could see where I was. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it. We were sitting in the room behind the large clock that looked out over the courtyard. After I'd admired my surroundings, which were actually quite beautiful despite what you'd think, I noticed James sitting on a picnic blanket, opening the basket.

"Do you bring all of your slaves here against their will, or am I just special?" I sat down next to him as he pulled out some sandwiches.

"What makes you think I've had a slave other than you?" James grinned as he placed one of the sandwiches on my plate.

"You seem like the kind of guy that's had loads of slaves. People must be lining up for a chance to be James Potter's slave for a day." I stared up into the high ceiling, watching as the machinery worked above us.

James looked at me. "No Evans. You're special." My gaze dropped to meet his. "I mean," he turned red and spoke again. "Meaning you're the only girls who's had the privilege to be my slave for a day." I removed James' jacket and scarf and taking a bite out of the sandwich, leaned against the picnic basket. "You know Potter? This time last year I wouldn't have ever thought we'd be here. You were such an annoying git."

"I quite prefer arrogant toerag to annoying git, thank you very much." He grinned at me and then turned his head to the side slightly. "What changed? I mean, we only met once over the summer. I couldn't have changed your opinion of me that quickly could I? The time you'd seen me before you'd hated my guts. I know that for sure."

"I don't really know James. I suppose I was lonely and realized that you weren't as bad as I'd thought. You've also changed since the end of last year. You've grown up from what I can see."

"WHAT THE HELL?" James didn't get the chance to respond. From the door of the room, a familiar voice rang through the room. Sitting up straight I turned to see who it was. _Oh no. _It was Aiden. Standing up faster than I though was possible, I started walking towards him.

"Aiden, this isn't what it looks like- we were just-" I put my hand out reaching for him.

"And here I was, searching for you all morning so I could apologize. I finally find you and what happens? You're in here with that idiot!" Aiden motioned towards James and left the room quickly. I shot an apologetic look towards James who remained sitting on the blanket, mouth open wide.

"Aiden!" I called after him as I ran to catch up. "Aiden, stop please. Let me explain." I grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. People were already staring. Taking his hand, he let me lead him to a less public spot. He glared at me as I looked up into his eyes. He'd wanted to apologize. All the anger I'd felt from this morning was gone. Aiden Masters didn't apologize easily.

"What you saw back there wasn't anything. James and I had a bet about something last night and I'd lost so he made me sandwiches and we were just eating them. There was nothing going on, I swear. I'd never do that to you." Aiden's eyes hadn't lost any of the anger in them.

"You _know _how he feels about you Lily, don't be stupid. I have enough to worry about right now without the added bonus of having you run around with Potter making a fool of us! You know how much I care about you. You obviously don't feel the same towards me or you wouldn't have been in there with Potter." Aiden made to leave but I grabbed his hand quickly.

"No, Aiden. You don't know how wrong you are. James and I are friends. There is nothing else going on between us. Anything that he may have felt before is gone. He knows that I'm happy with you and he respects that. Any other feelings are gone. I feel the same way about you that you feel about me." The anger washed out of Aiden's eyes. His grip tightened on my hand as he reached to grab the other one.

"Lily, can you promise me that?" I nodded and he leaned in to kiss me. Relief washed through my body. "I'm sorry about the way I've acted today. Aubrey wasn't right to call you those names. I yelled at him in the hallway today for it. I got defensive because it was Potter. You know how I feel about him. He makes me angry the way he's always strutting around everywhere thinking he's better than everyone else." I nodded as he wrapped his arms around me, wrapping his fingers into my hair. "I understand that you two will get close because of Head duties, and I'm willing to let that happen. As long as you promise that he won't come between us."

"I promise." Aiden kissed me once more on the forehead and we headed off towards the Great Hall.

I didn't see James again that day.


	5. Mistakes

A/N: Oh gosh, I'm sorry this took so long! I've been caught up in semester changes and everything. Please review, it actually really inspires me to write more for you guys :) Thank you and sorry again!

I know the term "spread like a wildfire" is a cliché, but never before in my life have I heard news travel so fast. I hadn't been the subject of a juicy rumor for years, but due to the fact that the small population of the school didn't have many options for drama, except for the latest escapades of James and his friends, the leeches that called themselves my schoolmates took what they could get. The whole castle had heard about my "affair," by the next morning.

Apparently some fifth year Slytherin girl had witnessed the entire scene between Aiden and me in the hallway and ran off to tell all of her friends. If I ever found out who she was, oh she was in trouble.

I was getting dirty glares from Ravenclaw's and members of James' "fan club", and looks of awe from any young people thinking I was actually stupid enough to go out with James Potter. As if.

James himself was avoiding me. I suppose it was for the better though. If I was going to keep Aiden and restore my tattered honor, I'd have to stay clear of him for a while.

"Lily!" I heard Em yell at me. The sounds of people enjoying breakfast slowly grew louder as my thoughts returned to the Great Hall. Mary, Alice, Marlene and Emmeline all stared at me as glanced around.

"Hmmm? Sorry, I was thinking about- things."

Alice put her hand on my forehead. "She's not particularly warm."

"Lily, you've been off somewhere else all morning!" Marley slammed her fist down on the table.

Mary looked at her quickly and then turned back to me. "Lily, dear, you're worrying us. Are you alright?"

I hadn't realised how long I'd been off in my own thoughts. "Oh, sorry guys, I guess I've just got a lot to think about?"

"Is it about Bertie?" Em looked at me with concern. After Aiden and I had went for a walk around the grounds the previous day, I'd returned to the Common Room to find three anxious girls and a stubborn Marlene, who'd informed me that she was saving the storytelling for me. We'd all retreated to our bedroom and I'd told them all about Bertie, what James and Sirius had done, and both of the fights Aiden and I'd had. Completely filled in and satisfied, my friends had finally stopped nagging me for information. And I was tired. With a day like that, of course I would have been. And lucky me, I got to wake up after a horrible night's sleep, to the lovely hospitality the students of Hogwarts can give.

"Oh no, it's not. I'm just still getting over yesterday I suppose. It was kind of crazy." They accepted the answer and I pushed aside all memories of the past two days for the remainder of the meal.

After the meal though, I couldn't help but hear the whispers as I walked by. As I slowly made my way out into the grounds to enjoy the half-decent weather we were having that day, people became more and more bold, eventually they weren't even whispering anymore. Blatantly talking about me as I walked by, glaring and shaking their heads. Aiden knew that I hadn't cheated on him. He trusted me enough to know that I hadn't lied to him.

The doors were right in front of me. I was almost home free. The feeling of my hands against the large wooden panels had never been so liberating. Pushing them open, I nearly tripped over my feet in my haste.

"Watch it slag." I found myself face to face with Laurie Crown- the seventh year Ravenclaw that James and Sirius had teased on the train. My mouth dropped as I registered what she'd said.

"What did you call me?" I had to double check. Maybe I'd heard wrong. Even with all of whispering that had gone on, no one had gone far enough to call me names. The worst I'd heard was a rumor that I'd been found in the astronomy tower with James under a blanket.

"Yeah Evans, you heard right. I called you a slag. And I was right in doing so." Laurie glared at me. "How could you? Aiden is a good guy. Honestly, if I were him I wouldn't even waste my time with you anymore. He's too good for you, taking you back after you cheated on him. You could have had Potter all this time, but you wait until you have a boyfriend to say yes."

"I didn't cheat on Aiden, Laurie-"

"Then why did he find you and Potter behind the clock tower? Aiden talks to me, you know. Everyone's seen how chummy you've been getting with Potter these days. And everyone knows how Potter feels about you." Laurie looked me up and down as I struggled to find an answer. Finally it came to me.

"I DON'T EVEN BLOODY LIKE JAMES POTTER!" I nearly stamped my foot at I said it. Laurie's eyes were wide in surprise. "I don't know what Aiden's told you, and I don't care what you think of me, but I don't like James Potter in that way! Honestly, you think I'd cheat on Aiden with Potter? You might want to go to the nurse Laurie. There's something wrong with your head." It was Laurie's turn to be lost for words. Unlike me she didn't find them. Instead, she pushed past me into the school.

So I continued my walk.

The air wasn't as cold as it had been the previous day, so I was able to stay out for a few hours. Glancing up at a soft light coming from Gryffindor tower, I realized how much I'd missed it here. Despite the drama of the past three days, it was home. Back with Mom, Grandma and Petunia, I was welcome, but I felt alone. Here I was with people like me. And I didn't have Vernon sneering at me every day.

People would get over the rumors and things would die down. Soon some bigger scandal would come around. I would know. Anyone that had anything to do with James Potter had to have some sort of following when it came to rumors at Hogwarts. I'd become a person of interest when it came to James' massive crush on me that started in our fourth year. People were constantly asking me about it for a few days after James asked me out time after time. Finally, at the end of last year when I'd started dating Aiden, the questions had stopped, and I'd moved into a peaceful quiet. It seemed that even with a boyfriend, the rumors wouldn't stop flying. Stupid James Potter and his fan club- they were always getting me into trouble.

I found myself at the edge of the lake. So many things had happened by this shoreline. I picked up a small rock by my feet, hurling it into the water. Thoughts of the things living in the lake that could possibly come after me quickly flitted across my mind, but I brushed them aside. It was getting cold and they'd be further down closer to the bottom.

"You'd better watch out. I'm pretty sure I saw a Kappa surface earlier." A voice from behind me nearly caused me to scream. Turning, I spotted Remus sitting under a tree, a book open on his lap.

"And you'd better watch out. I'm not really in the mood to deal with people right now." I almost glared at him, but decided not to. He didn't seem to care about the rumors spreading around the school. It wasn't his fault. Walking closer, Remus scooted aside and patted the ground beside him. The dirt was cold, but it didn't bother me too much.

"So are you going to tell me why you were attacking the lake?" Remus closed his book after dog-earing the page.

"Like you don't know. You're his best friend." I snapped at Remus and he glanced at me questioningly.

"No, Lily. I don't actually know what's wrong, hence me asking you. What's wrong?" Was it even possible that someone didn't know? With the way people had been talking about it I thought everyone had heard by now.

"Just give it an hour and you will have heard what's wrong. In the castle at least. What are you doing out here anyways?" I asked Remus.

"Waiting for my friends to get me some breakfast." His gaze moved towards the castle where he smiled briefly and nodded. Turning around I saw James, Peter and Sirius heading in our direction. Instantly I jumped to my feet.

"Sorry Remus, I'll talk to you later alright? I've got some, um, important Head business to attend to." With that, I waved goodbye and sped off in the opposite direction. Looking back, it would have been a better idea to seem a bit calmer, but at the moment I was avoiding Potter to my best extent. I didn't want any more fuel thrown onto the fire, and hanging out with him would do exactly that.

Reaching the doors, I had to catch my breath. Avoiding James and his friends had meant taking the long way around the grounds. This was going to be difficult.

"Lily!" I managed to bump into someone as I opened the doors again. This time, the individual was much more pleasant.

"Aiden!" I flung my arms around him and nearly knocked him over.

"Well you've never been this glad to see me. Is this a special occasion?" I squeezed him tighter.

"I'm just glad to see you. It's not even lunch but it's been such a long day already." Aiden led me into the school as I heard the whispers. Even though I only looked at the ground in front of me, I could feel the stares of people as I passed them.

I glanced at Aiden to see if he even noticed the spectators. His face was blank, but his eyes were focused straight ahead, unmoving. He could hear it all.

"We can talk to people Lily. We'll get through this. We've just got to stay strong. Maybe we can go talk to a teacher about it later. Things will die down." Aiden broke his focus for a moment to look at me. His blank face quickly changed to a grin and back to the unemotional slate.

I couldn't honestly agree with him. There was no way I was going to a teacher about this. I was already a supposed slag. I wasn't going to be a narc either. Besides, who would I blame? Oh I'm sorry Professor, everybody is whispering about me. It's really hurting my feelings. No, I'd just have to deal with this until a bigger scandal came by and caught the masses attention.

Aiden and I managed to get to the library without being confronted by anyone directly. Hidden away in the large volumes of books, we managed to avoid the stares of people.

"I'm sorry Aiden." We sat in the middle of the aisle, legs crossed, facing each other. "This is my fault. If I hadn't been with James so often-"

"Lily. You aren't the only one to blame here. I shouldn't have gotten so angry with you. Then or that morning. Potter just gets under my skin, and you know how he's felt towards you before. I realise now that I overreacted though. You two will have to spend time together now that you're Head Boy and Girl. I care enough about you that I'm willing to let you hang out with Potter." I could tell from the strain in his voice that it was difficult to say. Aiden had always hated James. That was part of the reasons we'd started talking in the first place.

There wasn't much else to say on the topic after I brought up the fact that James and I wouldn't be talking much anyways. Aiden was in a little bit of a better mood, and we sat in our Library hiding place and talked about our summers. I realised that Aiden and I had barely spent any time together since school had started again. Considering we hadn't spent much time together since we'd started dating before the summer in the first place, I figured we'd better start.

Aiden and I had been friends for a few years. And we mailed each other quite often over the summer. It was an odd relationship though. Something new for me, at least and I was going to try and make it work.

We talked until lunchtime, when the Library closed for a short period of time. Miss Lyon, the Librarian, had no clue what she was condemning us to when she kicked us out. It had to happen though. Aiden had some Quidditch business to handle after lunch so we would have had to leave anyways.

There was still no way I was going into the Great Hall. Avoiding people seemed to be the best way to deal with everything that had happened.

The vast majority of people would be in the Great Hall for lunch and then they'd head outside to enjoy the last of the nice weather. My plan was to stay inside as long as I could. So I found myself in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was eerily quiet as I sat on one of the couches reading my book. Maybe that's why I was so surprised when I heard a voice behind me.

"We need to talk."

It's not every day you hear those words. Generally they're associated with a break-up. But there was no way Aiden was in the Common Room with me. Turning, I found James Potter moving to sit on the couch with me. He continued speaking. "I have a strange feeling you've been avoiding me."

"What makes you say that?" I closed my book and lowered my head.

"The fact that you ran away from Remus this morning when we got there. And the fact that you aren't at lunch right now? Those might be some good examples." James reached into his pocket and pulled out his Snitch. It was almost as if he needed the thing to focus on a conversation.

"Well yeah. I guess those kind of seem like good examples." He released the Snitch, letting it flutter for a moment before catching it again.

"I think I've got a pretty good idea as to what's bothering you, but I'm going to give you a chance to explain yourself."

"I don't owe you an explanation Potter." I picked up my book again and James reached over and grabbed it.

"Lily. We were doing so well. Are you honestly going to let your boyfriend dictate who you can hang out with?"

"Well it seems like my boyfriend isn't the only one who's dictating who I should be seen with. In case you haven't noticed, my day's been pretty rotten."

"Let them think what they want Evans. Does it really bother you that much? There's no harm in it." James released the Snitch and let it flutter for a few moments before grabbing it again.

"Yes it does Potter. You aren't the one who's been called names all day. If anything, this is doing wonders for your reputation as a broken-hearted bad boy!" James quickly glanced up at me.

"My _what_?" His fist closed tightly around the small golden orb.

"You heard me. And that's hardly the worst thing I've ever called you. You can handle it."

"Yes, I can handle names. Apparently you can't. This is the first time you haven't been adored by everyone isn't it? Other than with Bertie the other night? Are you going to handle this on your own as well? Do you want me to stay clear? Obviously I've made a mistake trying to be your friend. I try and get to know you and bad things happen. So I'll just stay away from now on." James pocketed his Snitch and threw my book down the couch. His foot hit the bottom step on the boy's staircase

"It hasn't been a mistake James. You didn't do anything wrong. I've liked spending time with you. And, by the way, I can handle myself with this. I'll just wait until everything dies down." James turned to face me again, making eye contact. "You don't have to stay away. I'd like to be friends, trust me."

"Lily, I just don't know anymore." He started up the stairs again after a moment's pause. I had the urge to call after him, but I choked down the words. I'd tried. If James Potter didn't want to be friends, we didn't have to be.

I hid up in my room for the remained of the afternoon. Regardless of the fact that I hadn't done much except for hide, I was exhausted. And by judging by the growling of my stomach, I was hungry to. Dinner time drew nearer and my friends were nowhere to be seen. You think they'd have at least tried to come and find me. But I was stuck having to go to dinner. I'd slip in and grab a plate then retreat back to the safety of my room.

The Common Room filled up slowly as people came in to put away their coats and I joined the crowd and attempted to blend in. Keeping my head down I tried to block out the whispers. Focusing on my feet, I shuffled along to the Great Hall.

"Lily!" I heard my name from behind me. My eyes stayed glue to the floor. My name was called again only this time the voice was louder. "Ah jeez Lily. Are you deaf?" Marlene caught up with me. "Where the hell have you been? You disappeared after breakfast and we couldn't find you. James didn't know where you were either." I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Sorry, it's been a bit of a rough day. I've been hiding out for most of the day."

"That's why we were trying to find you Lily! People have stopped talking about you since lunch! It just kind of stopped all of a sudden!" I tuned in to a conversation two particularly gossipy fourth year girls were having.

"So she just dated him anyways? Winona Sparks is way too good for him. Seriously, if famous witches want to stay famous, they need to be smarter about the people they're seen with." One of the girls noticed me listening and smiled.

I turned back to Marley with wide eyes. "How the hell did that happen? Everyone was talking about me earlier today."

Marlene smiled a bit. "If I didn't know better Lils, I'd have thought you missed it." Pushing her gently, I shook my head and I enjoyed the lack of attention as my friend and I reached the Great Hall. The only thing that was off about dinner was the fact that James and his friends weren't there. It wasn't too uncommon though. Those four missed dinner occasionally, usually leading up to a pretty big prank.

"Hey Lily, would you like some extra strawberries?" A third year boy asked me. I shook my head and the boy smiled putting down the bowl. "Alright then. Have a nice day." The smile on that boy must have hurt it was so wide. It had actually kind of frightened me. Everywhere I looked, people were smiling. I leaned in towards Marlene.

"Has everyone been hit with an optimism jinx or something? I never had everyone be this nice to me before."

"Are you complaining? If I were you I'd take advantage of this. You don't know how long it's going to last. Maybe they're all feeling sorry for the way they acted?" I started laughing.

"Do you really think I could do that Marley? I feel guilty borrowing clothing from people. Having them give me things and always smiling is too far for me."

I finished dinner as quickly as possible and made my way once more to the Common Room. The student body's change of heart hadn't changed the fact that I was tired. Plus I had school tomorrow. Seven seemed like a good time to sleep anyways.

It was actually eight by the time I'd finished showering and brushing my teeth. Pulling back the sheets on my bed, I noticed something on my pillow. Upon closer inspection, I found a piece of parchment with a single line on it, written in sloppy cursive.

"I've fixed my mistake. Now what are you going to do?"


	6. Illuminations

**A/N- Sorry it's taken so long. I'm graduating school soon so I've been really busy with school.**

James Potter sat in his Potions class Monday morning with a feeling of self-satisfaction. Class was almost over, and he'd spent the entire class watching as Lily got angry with Snivellus over the little things. He'd made sure that every time she'd looked back at him, he wasn't watching her. Instead, he busied himself with preparing the ingredients for Sirius.

He enjoyed how she couldn't seem to stop looking at him. It wasn't often that he caught and held Lily Evan's attention. The note he'd left on her pillow had had a better effect than he would have thought. She seemed almost guilty. James would have killed to find out what she was thinking as she chopped up her mandrake root.

But there were more important things than Lily Evans in the near future. He'd fixed his problem, and now it was up to Lily to fix hers. He knew Lily though, and that meant she would be too proud to apologize for a while. That gave him time to work out some other issues. The first full moon of the school year was the next day, and there were preparations to be made. Not only that, but the next meeting between the Head Boy and Girl and Bertram and Davey. Dumbledore had told James that Bertie was now in private mentoring sessions with one of the teachers, but that Davey was still open for the meetings. So they were meeting at 8 in the library to talk. Lily hadn't been told.

After cleaning up, the class headed off to Transfigurations. James was infamous for being the first to leave a class, and being the last to arrive, taking his sweet time in the halls. Being Head Boy, you had to mingle with the populous. Plus, despite eating a large amount of food at breakfast, a Head Boy had quite an appetite by the time second class started.

A quick detour through a hidden passage brought James to the kitchens, where the house elfs were preparing lunch. Not soon after, James exited the kitchen, a plate full of food in his hands.

Picking up a particularly juicy-looking strawberry, James bit into it and closed his eyes, causing him to trip over a small body sitting in the corridor. The plate full of food went flying into the air as James' eyes flew open. Quidditch training kicked in and James managed to roll as he hit the ground. Turning quickly, he spotted what he had tripped over.

Liam Travers- the first year Gryffindor that Lily had been talking to stared back at him. Just as it had been before, James felt like he was staring in a mirror. Or a mirror that showed him a younger version of himself. A fear took place in Liam's eyes as he gripped a piece of parchment tightly, picking himself off of the floor.

"Travers, was it?" James got up and held out his hand to help him up. The boy seemed to wince at the name.

"Liam." He ignored James' hand and got up himself.

"Right." James looked at the item in Liam's hand. "What the hell were you doing sitting in the middle of the hallway during class time?" Liam shoved the piece of paper into the pocket of his robes, and looked at the mess behind James.

"It's not important. What were you doing walking around with a plate of food? I thought you weren't allowed in the kitchens." Liam stared at James with a defiance that reminded James of himself. It was eerie how similar he had been at his age.

"Head business. Now hand over that piece of paper Liam. If it's not important, that shouldn't be a problem." James watched as Liam eyed the corridor behind James. It didn't take a genius to know what he was going to try. James slowly reached into his pocket and placed his hand on his wand. "Don't be stupid, Travers. I'm not going to do anything to you unless you-" James didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before the little boy took off. Turning, James found he didn't even need to draw his wand. Liam had slipped on the spilled food. Laying in the mess, Liam stared up at James, his glasses slightly askew. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the piece of parchment.

"Fine. Just don't expel me please. I haven't done anything." As he spoke, James could hear the cracking in his voice. The poor boy was about to cry. Taking the paper from his hand, James helped him up. After cleaning up his clothes and the mess in the hallway to avoid any other accidents, they sat against the wall.

Smoothing out the parchment, James began to read, stopped himself at the third line and paled.

"I'm sorry Liam, we've got to go see Dumbledore."

Standing in the Headmasters office was a familiar thing for James Potter. Countless times he'd found himself staring at the portraits of the old headmasters, wanting to fool around with the contraptions sitting on Dumbledore's many tables. But he knew better to do that. Well, he learned after an incident involving a monkey and a spell that involved re-growing his fingers.

So James sat in the chair by the Headmasters' desk with a comfortable nature. Liam on the other hand appeared like he might faint at any moment. For once, James didn't know what to say. For him, words came easily. But with this kid that was sitting across from him, looking so frightened but reminding him of himself, the words didn't come.

Dumbledore emerged from the back of his office to sit behind his desk. Liam couldn't control himself.

"I'm sorry Professor! It's not my fault, really! I didn't know Sebastian would send me the letter! I won't do it, I swear! Please don't expel me Professor. I don't want to leave Hogwarts. I like it here." Liam was almost in tears. Dumbledore folded his hands and set them on his desk for a moment.

"There is no need to worry Liam. I know you won't do what your brother has asked you. You're safe here, and you always will be. Your brother can't get to you here."

James looked down at the ground. Both Dumbledore and him knew that wasn't completely true. There had been Death Eater activity reported in the school since the rise of Voldemort. Hogwarts _wasn't _a safe place. At least not as safe as it had once been. It made sense, since the world wasn't as safe as it once had been. Dumbledore wasn't about to go and tell Liam about that though. Feeling hopeless on the good side wasn't going to keep him from going to his brother like he'd been asked to do.

After reading the letter, James had remembered where he'd heard the name Travers before. Sebastian Travers had been a Slytherin a year ahead of us that had dropped out the year before to follow Voldemort. No one had known he'd had a little brother. The older Travers had told his brother to leave Hogwarts and go home because he'd been placed in Gryffindor. From a family with such deep roots in Slytherin, Liam must have disappointed them with his House placing.

"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore turned to James. "If I am not mistaken, you have Transfiguration right now?" Behind his half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore stared at James.

"Yes, Professor. I was on my way when I bumped into Liam." Liam himself kept his head down, not giving anything away. James wasn't lying; he'd just taken a detour on the way.

"Then you had better be on your way. Thank you for bringing Liam to me. I will write you a note explaining where you have been." Dumbledore scribbled down a quick note and James was on his way.

Despite being dismissed, James couldn't stop thinking about Liam during the rest of the day. The only time he stopped thinking about it was during lunch.

"Prongs. Snap out of it. You're being a git." James looked up from his pasta to see Sirius staring at him.

"Sorry Pads. I didn't sleep well last night." Sirius gave him a strange look as Remus spoke.

"We know you're lying Prongs. You snored like a troll last night." Peter nodded in agreement as James rolled his eyes.

"Sod off Moony. I'm just deep in thought." Peter swallowed and spoke.

"Prongs, be careful. You know that bad things happen when you're deep in thought."

"Yeah, like Lily catches you staring at her bum and she hits you with a book." Sirius smirked and ducked out of the way as James went to hit him.

"I'm not joking Pads. You three sod off." James took his seat again.

"Oi, Moony, you're the expert, is this some kind of Head Boy- Prefect kind of thing? Or maybe it's relating to the moon! Is James on the pissy-part of his monthly cycle?" The three boys laughed as Sirius joked. James gave in as his friends laughter calmed down.

"Head Boy business Padfoot- I ran over a kid in the hallway who was in a spot of trouble."

"So that's why you weren't in class? McGonagall wasn't too happy about you missing her class. She thought you'd changed since you became Head Boy. Not that she'd know from the whopping class you've attended so far hey? It's not like a little responsibility will have you sucking up to teachers like Snivellus though, eh?" Sirius nudged James in the ribs.

"Nah, he'll always be our James- won't he?' Peter grinned as Remus spoke.

"But back on the subject of moon-related things. My furry little problem is an issue tomorrow. Do we have everything ready? Who's on snack duty this time?" Sirius spoke up.

"I am. James, did you work out your problem? With the Davey-kid? He'd better not mess anything up."

The rest of the day went smoothly, and soon James found himself sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room Tuesday, last period. The free period he had on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays made for a relaxing final year. Of course, he'd had to miss Transfiguration so it was time to get the homework done. Transfiguration was a class you couldn't fall behind in. After about half an hour of work, he heard a noise on the stairs. It wasn't very loud, but it caused him to jump. Lily Evans stood on the staircase, her hair slightly tousled as if she'd been sleeping.

"Hello Lily. I'm assuming you slept well?" Lily frowned as she walked over to the couch quickly.

"No Potter. I didn't, actually. And it's your fault." She crossed her arms as she dropped down onto the couch.

James motioned to the items on the table he'd been working with. "Sorry, am I being too loud? I can quiet down - "Lily didn't let him finish.

"Don't be stupid Potter. It's not you being too loud. You're not crashing around down here. It's what you did yesterday. Did you really think you could do that without any repercussions? Did you think I'd be able to just leave you alone after you did me a favour?" Lily's face was turning really red. She wasn't happy about having to say thank you.

"Look, Lily. I did it because I felt bad. But you're getting pretty angry about me fixing things. I get it, you don't want me around." He gathered his materials into his bag and started upstairs leaving Lily seated on the couch.

"James! Don't be a git. Why do you think I'm down here trying to apologize?" James stopped and turned around returning to his seat on the couch.

"Yeah? Is that what you were doing? It seemed like you were getting angry at me for being a good person."

"Well it's not my fault you make me angry sometimes. James, I have to watch myself around you. You're easy to get along with, and there are people I like that aren't the biggest fan of you."

James laughed to himself. "And by people I assume you mean Aiden. Right now he seems like the only one of your friends that doesn't like me. Lily, you can't let people dictate what you do. You're too eager to please everyone. You have to be more relaxed, and do things for yourself."

"I do things for myself James. They just usually end up poorly. Now will you accept my apology so I can go and actually sleep?" Lily stood up slowly.

"Ah, I knew there was something in it for you. Yeah, Evans. I'd forgiven you already. Watching you squirm all day was kind of fun." Lily's eyes went wide.

"You were watching me?" She struggled to keep her mouth closed as her blush deepened. James felt a tingle across his cheek as he realized he was blushing as well. He hadn't planned on tell Lily that either. "Um… well I was planning on coming to the mentoring session tonight, but I think I'm too embarrassed now. I think I'm just going to go and sleep forever and never come out into the world, where I can do stupid things anymore. Tell everyone I'm dead." Lily started to walk hastily towards the stairs.

"Ah Lily! Actually about that." Lily didn't return to the couch, but leaned against the wall. "Do you mind taking over that tonight? I think you could make more progress with it, and I have something I need to do. I was going to do it, but because of the last time I wasn't sure if you were going to go."

"Oh, yeah sure. 8, right? In the library?" Lily smiled at James as she ran up the stairs. James smiled to himself. Lily was cute when she was blushing, and James Potter knew how to make Lily Evans blush.

This actually solved a few of his problems. Lily could work out her guilt, while Davey was occupied. That took two distractions out of that night. Now all James had to do was show up and spend the night in the Shack.

James waited until 9 to pack his bag and head out to the Common Room. The plan was to meet on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a little bit north of Hagrid's hut. Leaving in staggered times made it less suspicious. If the four of them all left at the same time, someone would know something was up. So James made his was down the stairs as everyone was coming up them. 9:15 was curfew on week nights, but sometimes the older students stayed up later to do their homework so James wasn't questioned.

He made his way out of the portrait and bumped into Lily Evans.

"Oh! Potter! Thank goodness I found you! You were exactly the person I was looking for! Have you seen Davey?" Lily looked frantic, speaking at a hundred miles per hour. James put his hand on her shoulder once he'd helped her up, and told her to calm down.

"I thought he was supposed to be with you, Evans. Why would I have seen him?" James tightened his grip on his bag as he checked his watch. 9:05.

"He never showed up! I waited for a while but no one said they'd seen him in the library at all tonight. What if something happened to him?"

"Stay calm Lily. I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure he is just upstairs sleeping or something. Even if he is out here, the patrols will find him." Lily didn't seem convinced of this. Luckily for James Lily was too focused on Davey to worry about the fact that he was wearing a backpack and heading out after curfew. He helped Lily into the portrait, then headed off to the forest.

The moon was full in the sky as James, Sirius and Peter made their way along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Keeping to the shadows, they made their way all the way to the Whomping Willow. Glancing at the Marauder's Map quickly, James double checked that no one was where they shouldn't have been while Peter turned into his rat form. Davey wasn't in the Gryffindor Tower, but James didn't have time to look thoroughly. James pushed it to the back of his mind as he ran into the tunnel underneath the large tree.

The tunnel was long and dark, but thanks to a Lumos spell cast by Peter, they made it to the other side to find Moony transformed. Removing their bags, they transformed into their animal forms and took their places around the Shack.

Moony's howls echoed around the room, vibrating the floor. The transformation would be complete soon, and the four of them could go out and explore the Forbidden Forest until dawn like they'd been doing for a few years.

It did sound oddly like screams. The wolf's howls combined with Moony's human cries combined in a terrifying noise that gave the Shrieking Shack its name. But this time there was something else. It sounded as if a human girl was actually screaming.

James' heart almost stopped as he realized what the noise was. Getting up, James, still in his stag form, raced through the tunnel. He could hear Sirius close behind him. He was glad, because once out of the tunnel, Sirius had the foresight to touch a paw on the knot that froze the tree. James, seeing the red-haired form of Lily Evans crouched on the ground, rushed across the grounds, transforming mid-leap back to his human form. He almost fell over as the wind rushed past him, coming to a stop crouched beside her.

"Oh god Lily! Are you alright!" Lily didn't respond. It was then that his vision finally fully returned to him. The body of Davey Gudgeon lay in her arms, blood trailing down his face, running over Lily's arms. She herself was unmoving, staring at the body. It must have been her screams he'd heard. Now she couldn't say a thing. Davey's limp form was an image burned into his mind. James had seen countless Quidditch injuries over the years- most of them worse than this one. But they'd never been on a boy so small.

After James' head stopped spinning and his stomach calmed down, he was able to realize that Davey's eye was gone- the source of the blood.

"Oh god!" Sirius ran up beside him and recoiled from the smell of blood. "Is that Gudgeon?" James nodded as he covered his nose and took out his wand. Sirius pried Lily's arms off of the body as James began to inspect it.

And he noticed breath in the cold nighttime air. The boy's small chest moved up and down slowly in ragged breaths, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. Sirius grabbed Lily's shoulder and guided her slightly out of the way. James guided his wand over the eye and stopped the bleeding.

"Sirius!" James called out. "We have to get him to the nurse. I don't have the skill to save him." Wordlessly, Sirius took out his wand and they levitated him as they started walking. Sirius still held on to Lily, grabbing her by the hand now instead of her shoulders.

"Do you think Wormtail can handle Moony on his own?" Sirius looked around carefully as they entered the school. Davey had started groaning- a good sign that he was feeling pain. At least he was alive. The groan seemed to wake Lily from her shock. She started looking around and quickly dropped Sirius' hand. James noticed a slight blush on her face. Then she noticed James looking at her and glared at him. Of course, James was saving the life of a stupid kid that got his eye poked out by a giant, moving tree, and she was glaring at him.

They arrived at the infirmary and opened the door. Madame Pomfrey lay down in a bed close to the door. She bolted up in her bed, almost leaping out from under the sheets. Unlike James and Lily, she snapped right into action. The three students were immediately bombarded with a whirlwind of questions and orders.

"Get him on the bed! What the hell happened to him? What are you doing out of bed? Get me the green vial from my shelf! Oi, Black- go grab a cloth from the sink!" She takes out her wand and inspects James' work. "Which one of you did this?" James nodded at her hesitantly. "It's good. If you hadn't done it, the boy would be dead." James' lips tightened into a thin line, and he ran his fingers through his hair. He blamed himself. If he hadn't tried to skip out on the mentoring sessions, Davey wouldn't have followed him out into the woods, and he wouldn't have been hurt. And once Lily had calmed down, she would be asking questions about why he'd been out of bed in the first place. Maybe he'd been looking for Davey himself? Sirius had been with him? He was hoping that Lily hadn't seen them go into the Whomping Willow. Then he'd have to tell her the truth.

Then there was Dumbledore. He hadn't known about the three of them going with Remus on his furry trips. At least they hadn't thought he had. It was Dumbledore, after all. The other professors could be tricked into thinking he'd been out looking for Davey.

Davey was healed decently, but Madame Pomfrey wanted him to stay overnight. She hadn't been able to restore his eye, and it would be a bit of a shock in the morning. James, Lily, and Sirius were told to go back the Common Room. A professor would see them in the morning.

"You two have got to stop missing class. As Head Boy and Girl, you need to start setting a better example for the younglings. James, I swear you've missed more class in the first three days than I missed in my entire third year." Sirius tried to lighten the mood as they walked back to the tower.

"Well you went through a good phase in third year. Who knows what you were thinking." The two boys chuckled a bit as Lily frowned. James noticed.

"Hey, Lily. We were only joking. I know that the thought of Sirius being a good kid is a scary one, but I was only kidding. He was just as bad that year as every other one." He put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. There was a strange awkward silence for the rest of the walk. Once they were back in the Common Room, Lily headed up the stairs wordlessly.

Sirius and James decided not to go out again. It would be really suspicious for them to be out again, and Peter would understand once everything was explained. So James Potter lay in his own bed, staring out the window at the full moon, longing to be out there with his friends.

"Do you think we'll get in trouble Prongs? Like real trouble? Most of the things we get busted for aren't illegal. I'm not so worried about getting in trouble as I am getting expelled. I've got nowhere else to go. You've got home, and a decent job lined up if things don't go well."

"Nothing will happen Pads. I promise. The only people who could narc on us are Davey and Lily. And Davey got his head smashed by a giant tree, so I don't think he'll be a problem. I don't think Lily would tell us even if she'd actually seen anything." It was weird seeing Sirius afraid. He'd always been so carefree and reckless. The thought of expulsion never usually bothered him.

This seemed to calm Sirius down enough. James felt the heavy pull of exhaustion dragging him towards sleep as the adrenaline of the night wore off. His lids closed and a dark wave of dreams overtook him.

**A/N- I hope you enjoyed reading James' point of view. It won't happen often, but sometimes it's needed. It can't always be boy troubles, can it? Sometimes a boy's trouble break is needed.**


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